BAPV and BIPV Installation Trends in Sweden

Other conference contribution, 2014

In recent years, Sweden has seen a notable increase of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, but with less than 50 MW installed at the end of 2013, the market is still very small. To reach a point where PV is considered in all building projects it has to be cost effective, aesthetically appealing, and reliable. Issues that are all connected to how a system is mounted. This paper aims to describe the current situation regarding the mounting of PV systems on Swedish buildings and for this, two separate studies have been conducted. The first study comprises well over 400 existing PV systems with a minimum peak power of 10 kW, and the second includes interviews and a questionnaire survey with system suppliers and owners. The results show that the most common mounting position is steep-slope roofs, mostly pantile or metal, followed by low-slope roofs. A majority of the installations on steep-slope roofs are applied on top of the roof, parallel to the slope. The most common mounting types for low-slope roofs are tilted and parallel systems secured to the roof. The share of ballast-only systems is however increasing. The most common building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications are modules used in shading devices and modules integrated in steep-slope roofs. Despite the rapid market growth, there seems to be few problems with medium sized installations, and most of the property owners are satisfied with the companies that have delivered and installed the systems.