Photo 6: IEA-PVPS Task 15 experts’ Meeting in Sophia-Antipolis, France, with about 30 experts in person and more than 20 participating online. The meeting was organized by CSTB and during the second day we had the chance to organize a workshop with other local stakeholders that presented new BIPV products and projects.
Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) refers to the inte+gration of solar photovoltaic panels directly into building elements or components, such as windows, roof tiles, or façade cladding systems. This integration allows buildings to generate electricity from the sun while serving their primary function as constructions. Several studies in previous phases of Task 15 revealed the large technical and economic potential of building skins for photovoltaic energy conversion, but some further steps should be taken to speed up the implementation of this technology in our constructions. In particular, new approaches and procedures should be developed to better assess the module performance under different environmental conditions (shading, fire, high temperature, etc.) and guarantee the necessary durability of the system. New digital solutions and approaches need to be further explored to make the design process easier and enable the coordination of different aspects of the BIPV value chain involving architects, engineers, and materials scientists. In addition, new training models and collaboration opportunities are also needed.
In its third phase (2024–2027), IEA PVPS Task 15 focuses on creating the conditions for the mainstream adoption of Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) by addressing the remaining key technical, social, economical and safety barriers that limit market uptake. The work builds on previous phases and adopts a holistic approach, recognising BIPV as both an energy technology and a multifunctional building envelope component.
Task 15 is developing harmonised approaches to market data collection, responding to the lack of consistent statistics following the phase-out of many national support schemes. In parallel, the task is refining methodologies to assess BIPV market potential by linking technical potential with economic, regulatory, and social drivers. Attention is also given to the integration of BIPV into energy and environmental labelling schemes and international building certification systems, with the aim of better reflecting BIPV’s multifunctional value. Collaboration with other IEA TCPs have been put in place in particular with EBC. Social acceptance is addressed through structured case studies that analyse user perception, stakeholder interaction, and architectural integration.
From a technical perspective, Task 15 continues to address pre-normative research gaps where existing standards and regulations are not fully adapted to BIPV. Fire safety remains a major focus, with work highlighting the specific risks of integrated PV systems and the need for dedicated testing approaches and clearer regulatory guidance. Another important topic is glare from BIPV installations, where current regulations often require assessments but lack clear metrics or thresholds. A first report has been finalised and and will be soon published presenting the landscape of glare regulatory frameworks in different countries.
Additional activities address solar heat gain characterisation, the performance and durability of coloured BIPV modules, and the impact of complex shading conditions on energy yield and system design.
Digitalisation represents another strategic focus. Task 15 is working to embed BIPV into digital building design workflows, particularly through the definition of BIM-compatible BIPV property sets that cover electrical, architectural, mechanical, visual, and economic aspects. Collaboration with the open BIM ecosystem aims to ensure interoperability and consistent data exchange across design tools.
In parallel, Task 15 maintains a strong link to real products and projects, collecting information on innovative BIPV solutions and monitoring long-term behaviour, especially for coloured BIPV systems where aesthetic stability is critical. Finally, the task places increasing emphasis on training, dissemination, and stakeholder collaboration, recognising that skills development and cross-sector understanding are essential for widespread adoption.
Overall, the achievements of 2025 demonstrate that Task 15 is steadily advancing toward its objective of establishing a coherent enabling framework that combines technical robustness, regulatory clarity, digital integration, and professional competence—key prerequisites for BIPV to become a mainstream solution in the built environment
Four publications were published in 2025 (see Research Highlights) – two within Task 15 and one in collaboration with Task 1 (Trend in photovoltaic application), a fact-sheet was also produced on advancing standardization.
Additionally, 4 scientific papers have been published in 2025:
Task 15 was also cited in the recent publication in Nature Reviews: Faes, A., Virtuani, A., Quest, H., Frontini, F. et al. Building-integrated photovoltaics. Nature Review Clean Technologies 1, 333–350 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-025-00059-9
In addition to the workshops organized with relevant stakeholder during plenary meetings, Task 15 was represented in several conferences with different contributions:
The overall objective of Task 15 is to create an enabling framework to accelerate the penetration and deployment of BIPV products in the global market of renewable energies and in the construction sector, resulting in a level playing field for BIPV products, BAPV products, and conventional building envelope components, while addressing mandatory, aesthetic, reliability, and financial considerations.
The task has already gone through and successfully concluded two work phases, involving numerous countries and experts.
STA focuses on the analysis of market, sustainability and societal impacts. The first objective of STA is to assess the current status of the BIPV market., including analysing market size, growth rates, and trends. In addition, the assessment of methodologies to calculate the BIPV market potential is in the scope if this activity. Secondly, the role of BIPV in net Zero Energy Buildings regulations and targets, and the contribution of BIPV in sustainability labels (e.g. LEED, BREAM, DGNB, SNBS, …) is assessed. Lastly, the social impact of BIPV and its measure in the society is studied in order to implement a framework to measure social impact in different regions and countries.
This subtask aims to harmonise BIPV standards by bridging gaps between PV and construction regulations. Key activities include improving fire safety acceptance, analysing shading effects on BIPV facades, and developing internationally accepted methods for assessing outdoor glare. Additionally, it explores the impact of electricity generation on SHGC in semi-transparent BIPV modules through outdoor and laboratory testing. The subtask also works on performance modelling for coloured BIPV, identifying missing parameters in existing standards.
By coordinating with international standardisation bodies such as ISO, IEC, and CENELEC, Subtask B seeks to align BIPV standards with both PV and construction requirements, ensuring a more integrated and widely accepted regulatory framework to support the market adoption of BIPV systems.
STC is aimed at progressing towards an integrated and collaborative digital process for the design, manufacturing and installation of BIPV systems, where information is defined, stored and shared between stakeholders through a digital model and an integrated platform.
Particularly, this subtask focuses on developing an IFC-standard scheme for representing BIPV products in open BIM format, ensuring relevant product information for building professionals. It also involves creating high-resolution BIM models for simulations to assess energy, economic, and environmental performance. Additionally, it aims to develop a multi-objective optimisation framework to generate optimal BIPV envelope designs.
STD will compile, evaluate and distribute data on existing, new and innovative BIPV technologies and products, give recommendations for BIPV performance and reliability testing, study BIPV-specific degradation rates, failures and failure mechanisms. The activity will have a special focus on innovative BIPV products, including coloured BIPV, investigating reliability and long-term behaviour of these products.
The STE activity focuses on BIPV education and sectorial initiatives, collecting information on available courses, mapping key international BIPV networks and events, and analysing global dynamics in knowledge creation and market uptake. The investigation includes identifying gaps and opportunities in BIPV training and cross-sectorial collaboration.
