Economic analysis has been undertaken for PV systems designed for the apartment and villa buildings described in Section 4. The main approach used to assess the feasibility of rooftop PV systems in this study is the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE).
The roofing configuration affects the yield of PV energy. By providing a systematic method to evaluate this influence, solar energy planners can differentiate between the benefits of traditional and sustainable rooftop configurations, which is the first step towards the coupling of distributed energy and sustainable building systems.
PV panels on a building’s roof can help cut the cooling load by providing a shade to the roof blocking the direct penetration of solar radiation to it. Energy saving in the studied villa due to the shading effect of PV panels has been modeled with the help of EnergyPlus.
Cool roofs outperform green roofs for PV energy yield; however, potential improvements for both systems are still significant, even in relatively cooler climate regions like Switzerland.
An experimental study in the hot and dry climate of the United Arab Emirates found that integrated PV-cool roof systems increase annual rooftop PV yield between 5 and 10%,\ which is potentially higher than the yield from a PV-green roof system.
We have published research by the UCL Energy Institute into the true potential for meeting our energy needs if we made full use of the rooftop space available for solar panels across the country.