Performance of single-sloped pitched roof cadmium telluride (CdTe) building-integrated photovoltaic system in tropical weather conditions

Abstract

Background: This paper investigates the performance of a single-sloped pitched roof building-integrated photovoltaic (SSPR-BIPV) system. A typical rural building having a roof area of 60 sq. m is considered for the study. It was observed that the considered roof area could accommodate, nearly 7 kW BIPV system, and on the other side, most buildings seen in Malaysia are of the roof based constructed at different roof pitches. Considering this, a SSPR-BIPV is proposed and analyzed in seven different pitched roofs (the steepness of roof slopes are 15°, 18°, 22°, 30°, 35°, 40°, and 45°) under the tropical weather conditions in Malaysia. Results and discussion: As per the study constraints, the 7 kW CdTe BIPV under seven different pitched roofs is capable of generating electricity within the range of 9510 to 7710 kWh. Performance ratio and energy losses for seven pitched roofs were identified to be in the range of 74.92 to 76.37% and − 23.63 to − 25.08% respectively. From the results, it is observed that in a BIPV system, as the building roof pitch increases, the energy yields and performance ratios tend to decrease, thereby increasing the overall energy losses. Conclusion: Hence, this study reveals that there exists a considerable influence of pitched roof over the BIPV performance and suggests using lower roof pitch angles during the installation of BIPV roof especially in the case tropical weather conditions.