Roofs could generate 40% of Europe’s electricity by 2020

The roofs and facades of buildings across Europe could potentially generate 40% of the region’s electricity by 2020, according to the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA).

The study by the EPIA, launched at a Ministry of Housing event in Madrid yesterday, calculates that 40% of all building roofs and 15% of facades in Europe – totalling 22,000 km² – would be suitable for photovoltaics.

Installations of either building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) or building-adapted (BAPV) systems – where solar panels are installed on top of existing building structures – could produce up to 1400 TWh of electricity a year.

BIPV systems are more expensive to install than BAPV, but can replace conventional building components and provide extra functions such as weather protection, heat insulation and light modification.

In France and Italy the extra costs of BIPV systems are taken into account in support schemes and currently represent about 30% of the market compared with less than 1% in Germany and Spain where they are treated in the same way as BAPV systems.

“It is essential to put in place favourable conditions across Europe that will support a wide deployment of BIPV applications,” says Adel El Gammal, Secretary General of EPIA.

Spain has a unique opportunity to develop BIPV, adds Virgilio Navarro, EPIA’s vice-president, which he says would encourage decentralised energy generation and support tens of thousands of local jobs firmly, mainly in the construction industry.

Demand for BIPV is also likely to grow as EU Member States adopt the Energy Performance of Building directive (EPBD) in 2012, which requires all new buildings to be nearly zero-energy by 2020.

For further information:
www.epia.org/

24 June 2010

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