Proper Placement of Photovoltaic Panels on the Facade of Urban Areas to Improve Energy Efficiency

Due to the crisis of the lack of energy resources and environmental pollution, it is necessary to use alternative and renewable energy. This has led to a growing trend in the use of solar systems, one of the most important sources of renewable energy. Photovoltaic panels are one of the main applicable existing solar power systems. Due to the limited space in building roofs to install such panels, combining them with the façades of buildings has received enormous consideration. In this article, first, the effective factors in efficiency and productivity of BIPV¹ panels were evaluated; then, the effects of combining photovoltaic panels with the main façade components, including curtain walls, façades, and canopies, on energy efficiency were examined and compared. To reach the goal of this research, an office building was simulated in Grasshopper software; photovoltaic panels were installed in different components of its southern façade using Honeybee and Ladybug plugins, and the energy efficiency of each component was analyzed. Moreover, the other effective factors on the location of panels’ installation, including their layout, type, module energy efficiency, cost, variety of patterns, light transmission, market limitation, the optical quality of panels’ glass, and the effect of rainfall and snow cover, as well as their effectiveness level were studied, weighted, and ranked using the Shannon Entropy Approach. The results revealed that combining the panels with the same area by a canopy, the main body of the façade, and the curtain wall had the highest effects on energy efficiency, respectively.