Energy Performance of a Building-Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal System for Rural Residential Buildings in Cold Regions of China

Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technology provides an aesthetical, economic, and technical solution for electricity self-sufficiency in buildings. This paper proposes a novel triple-skin BIPV/T system for rural residential buildings in north China. Firstly, the electrical performance of the proposed system was simulated using the System Advisor Model (SAM) from National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Secondly, the ANSYS Fluent software was used to simulate the heat transfer condition of the BIPV/T system in a typical winter day. The results show that the total electricity output of BIPV/T system in a typical year is 6128 kWh. In a typical winter day, the proposed system operates from 8:00 to 13:00 and outputs 9.84 kWh electricity in total. By collecting the accumulated heat from the PV module, the exposure temperature of the structural wall/roof is significantly improved. Accordingly, during the operation of the system, the total heat loss of the building envelope could be reduced by 2.85 and 2.75 kWh by the closed mode and the ventilated mode, respectively.