International. Tecnalia has launched this October the BIPVBOOST project, which focuses on reducing the costs of photovoltaic solutions and processes integrated in buildings (BIPV, for its acronym in English) along the value chain, which allows compliance with the main requirements of the market and contributes to a widespread implementation in Buildings of Almost Zero Energy Consumption.
According to Tecnalia data, some 17 innovative solutions will result from the implementation of the BIPVBOOST project. Together with the participation of industrial partners in the consortium, a solid foundation will be to achieve a 50% reduction in the additional cost of BIPV modules in 2020 and a 75% reduction in 2030, and thus a substantial increase in the market deployment of BIPV technology.
The project began this month at a meeting that took place at Tecnalia's facilities in Bilbao. The company regrets, in a statement, that the BIPV market "has been hampered in recent years by the industry's difficulties in providing holistic solutions that meet key market demands such as aesthetics, design flexibility, and cost-effectiveness." In this sense, the firm calls for "a joint industrial effort" that, they consider ,is crucial to conceive and develop highly efficient and multifunctional construction materials that produce energy that allow increasing market opportunities worldwide for European value chains of the photovoltaic and construction industry".
In this way, the project will address these challenges with the implementation of work plans to reduce costs in the short and medium term along the BIPV value chain. In this sense, the firm speaks of a flexible and automated manufacturing process of BIPV; a large portfolio of multifunctional BIPV products; a digitalised process and energy management system along the value chain; and finally refers to advanced standardization activities that support the qualification of BIPV systems for mass implementation in the appearance of the building.
BIPVBOOST is implemented thanks to a multidisciplinary team of 19 partners from seven European countries with industrial and research partners. The owners of the four demonstration buildings (PIZ, Mondragon Assembly, ISFOC, OPTIMAL Computing) were selected based on the criteria of geographical distribution, types of construction and use, market replication possibilities and ability to support related project activities.
