Study on the energy performance of different types of solar photovoltaic glazing systems

Due to the thermal weakness of glazing façade, thermal control on solar heat gain as well as thermal flow through glazing façade are two important aspects to reduce the thermal load of the buildings. Semi-transparent solar photovoltaic glazing, which can not only generate electricity in situ, but also reduce the solar heat gain significantly, has attracted growing attention in recent years. However, the use of single-pane semi-transparent PV windows still exist some drawbacks such as poor thermal resistance and high back surface temperature. In this paper, a simulation model was developed to study energy performance of different types of PV windows. Heat transfer model, daylighting model and PV power generation model in EnergyPlus were employed to investigate the thermal, daylighting and power generation performance. The results indicate that PV windows can significantly reduce the solar heat gain than other commonly used windows. Adopting the double-pane insulated glass and low-e glass can further improve the thermal performance by improving the thermal insulation performance. This study is expected to provide a meaningful reference for future development of PV glazing.