Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) modelling for a demo site in Ludvika based on building information modelling (BIM) platform

Abstract: This thesis aims to design and simulate a building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system for three demo buildings in Ludvika, Sweden, which is part of the Energy- Matching’s project under the European H2020 research scheme. A literature review was firstly conducted in the area of energy scenarios, engineering tools, methodologies and the workflows in design and building energy modelling. Then, this thesis developed the three-dimensional (3D) building models of the demo site, based on the Revit – a building information modelling (BIM) tool. Next, the PVSITES tool was considered as the main approach to simulate and optimize the BIPV system. Results on the energy output of the dedicated BIPV system, as well as financial costs, were finally obtained. It was found that the optimal location for the BIPV system was on the three buildings south and east faced roofs, with a total area of approximately 800 meters squared (m2) and a yearly irradiance potential between 1020 kilowatts hours per meter squared (kWh/m2) and 925 kWh/m2 respectively. The simulation showed that this BIPV system of 615 m2 with a power of 36 kilowatts-peak (kWp) could yield a maximum of 29,000 kilowatts hours per year (kWh), a 5% of the total yearly energy demand of the building and over the summer, this percentage increases considerably. With the estimated standards costs, the BIPV system have a 12 years payback period and 61% investment ratio over a 20 years period, concluding that a BIPV system on the Ludvika demo building is a feasible project, in terms of energy potential and as well as economically. This thesis also concludes that performing the BIPV simulation on the BIM platform is both reliable and flexible, and also has the potential to be reused, refined and scaled up.