Building-integrated photovoltaic technologies have considerable potential for the generation of onsite renewable energy. Despite this, their market penetration is in a relatively embryonic phase with respect to grounded or building-attached solutions, and they have limited commercial application. Their integration into building façades may represent a key asset in meeting the net-zero emissions by 2050 scenario, in particular for high-rise buildings in which the roof-to-façade ratio is unfavorable for the fulfillment of the energy load using only roof photovoltaic technology. Moreover, different façade orientations extend the production time throughout the day, flattening the power generation curve. Because of the present interest in BIPV systems, several researchers have conducted high-quality reviews focused on specific designs. In this work, various photovoltaic technologies and methods used to manufacture façade BIPV devices are reviewed with the aim of presenting researchers with the recent technological advancements and providing an overview of photovoltaic systems designed for different purposes and their applications rather than a detailed analysis of a specific technology. Lastly, future prospects and the limitations of building-integrated photovoltaic devices are presented.

The need of clean energy is constantly increasing, and Building Integrated PhotoVoltaic (BIPV) technologies represent valuable assets to expand even further the photovoltaic market. Thanks to BIPVs. a new concept of local electric microgrid will probably emerge as this kind of technology can turn buildings from energy wells to energy sources. Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC) panels are perfect to achieve this goal, indeed, contrary to standard flat PhotoVoltaic (PV) modules, they can be exploited in transparent or semi-transparent building façades. Thus, the purpose of this work was the optimization of the performance of LSC panels for BIPV applications. Being an application-oriented study, we paid particular attention to the scalability of the assembling process and the use of LSC slabs functionalized only with widely available organic commercial dyes and high-performance commercial silicon solar cells. The electrical and optical performance of the LSC panels were firstly simulated and then, once the most promising configurations were identified, the respective prototypes were assembled to compare the simulation results with the experimental measurements. These analyses were performed both under uniform illumination and in some relevant shading configurations typical for BIPV devices in operating conditions. The obtained results show that LSC panels that employ PV cells coupled with reflective films can yield a higher efficiency than a traditional system with cells placed along four sides.

In the context of rapid decarbonization, photovoltaics (PV) has played a key role. Traditionally, PV installations require large land areas, leading to competition between PV and agriculture for land use. This conflict must be addressed as the demand for both energy and food continues to rise. Additionally, it poses broader challenges, potentially leading local communities to perceive PV energy production as a threat to their economic activities and food security. An emerging and promising solution is agrivoltaics (AV), a combination of agriculture and PV. AV comes in many different forms, ranging from the simple coexistence of crops and PV installations on the same patch of land to a full synergy of the two, producing better crops while also harvesting energy from the sun. This paper paints a complete picture of the scientific work produced so far throughout the field, with special attention to the use of third-generation PV and luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs). Both technologies minimize shading and enable wavelength selection and enrichment (when functionalized with fluorescent materials) to better align with the photosynthetic needs of plants. The viability of AV has also been evaluated from an economic standpoint. This work aims to assess the current landscape of AV research and to point out possible future developments. It also seeks to evaluate whether the advantages of semi-transparent devices are substantial enough to justify their development and employment on a scale comparable to traditional PV.

The increasing trend towards decarbonization requires the reduction of the environmental impact of the building sector that currently accounts for approximately 40% of the total CO₂ emissions of European countries. Even though Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC) panels could be a very promising technology to be installed in urban environments, there is still little implementation of LSC panels in building façades. Here, the realization of a Ventilated Façade (VF) integrating an LSC device as an external pane is presented and a preliminary numerical and experimental investigation is used to evaluate the interaction between the different structure components. Thanks to the realization of a dedicated mock-up finite element method, models are calibrated and validated against experimental measurements, showing a good correspondence between simulated and measured data. Moreover, the electrical characterization of the LSC panel confirms that large area devices can be used as an external skin of VF, reporting a photovoltaic efficiency of 0.5%. The system’s thermal and optical properties (estimated thanks to the software COMSOL Multiphysics) encourage the continuation of the research by considering different technologies for the VF internal skin, by scaling up the case study, and by running the simulation of an entire building considering winter and summer energy demands.

This research addresses the need for enhanced thermal management in building-integrated photovoltaic systems, specifically focusing on semi-transparent PV panels based on luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) technology. In pursuit of optimal thermal regulation, the cooling effect of a paraffin PCM was investigated via finite element simulations developed with COMSOL Multiphysics. The PCM was thermally coupled with the PV cells situated in the frame of a south-facing window. Due to the seasonal difference between winter and summer, the PCM latent heat capacity and melting temperature were optimized to ensure the maximum nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT) reduction during summer months. PCM latent heat capacities equivalent to 120 kJ/kg, 180 kJ/kg, and 240 kJ/kg have been investigated, whereas for the melting temperature a range from 20 °C to 42 °C was spanned. The combination of higher latent heat and 36 °C melting point showed the most significant thermal benefits, by reducing the NOCT from 42 °C to 36 °C, which led to an 11.80% increase in power output across the whole PV window. Considering the same latent heat, the other melting temperature resulted in more moderate benefits, namely an enhancement of 7.88% and 3.94%, for 38 °C and 40 °C, respectively. The lower latent heat capacities resulted in an NOCT reduction that ranged between 2.7 °C and 5.3 °C, according to the associated melting point. These results testify that the presented solution could significantly enhance energy production in semi-transparent PV applications based on LSC panels.

The necessity to fulfil buildings energy demand with different energy sources leads to an increasing integration between building components and renewable energy sources. The development of new building‐integrated photovoltaics technologies requiring less silicon solar cells for active area is particularly interesting especially from a circular economy perspective. This research describes the design of five neutral color photovoltaic windows based on large area (0.61 m²) luminescent solar concentrators co‐developed by the University of Ferrara and Eni S.p.A. The windows are installed at the Eni “Renewable, New Energies and Material Science Research Centre” in Novara (Italy). The prototypes show a visible transmittance of 38.5%, exceeding that of commercially available semi‐transparent photovoltaic technologies. Moreover, the evaluation of the window colorimetric properties highlights a color rendering index equal to 93.0, thus ensuring an excellent illumination quality of the building indoor. The panel electrical performance is measured indoor, at the end of the assembly process, and onsite, showing a power production ranging from 1.2 to 2.8 W and an efficiency between 0.23% and 0.48% depending on the illumination condition and the background reflectivity. Although the generated power is limited, it is already sufficient to power stand‐alone small appliances and smart systems.