Electrical performance results of an energy efficient building with an integrated photovoltaic system

Sosten Ziuku; Edson L. Meyer

Fort Hare Institute of Technology, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa

ABSTRACT

A 3.8 kW rooftop photovoltaic generator has been installed on an energy efficient house built at the University of Fort Hare, Alice campus, South Africa. The system, located on the north facing roof, started generating electrical power in February 2009. In addition to providing electrical energy, the photovoltaic panels also act as the building roofing material. An instrumentation and data acquisition system was installed to record the indoor and outdoor ambient temperature, indoor and outdoor relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar irradi-ance, electrical energy produced by the solar panels and the household energy consumption. This paper presents the initial results of the electrical performance of the building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) generator and energy consumption patterns in the energy efficient house.

Keywords: building integrated photovoltaics, energy efficiency, energy demand, energy consumption

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Received 28 October 2009
Revised 7 June 2010