Solar Modules Integrated into the Facades of Industrial and Commercial Buildings (AppSolar)

At the Chair of Structural Engineering at the University of Siegen, in collaboration with the companies SOLYCO Solar AG, MW Photovoltaik Engineering GmbH, and ecorev GmbH from Berlin, solar modules for installation on the facades of industrial and commercial buildings are being developed to significantly increase the cost-effectiveness of building-integrated photovoltaics.

Industrial and commercial buildings generally have the surface area potential to support the planned expansion targets for photovoltaics and help achieve the defined climate protection goals. However, this can only be achieved with low investment costs and therefore requires the use of standardized solar modules—which are readily available on the market—in the facade, in compliance with building codes. The framed standard modules should therefore be installed as simply as possible onto an existing facade and not used as an integrated component of the facade cladding. The actual load-bearing behavior of the glazing structure of these framed standard modules interacts with the frame, thereby forming a significantly more load-bearing component than comparable frameless solar modules, which are currently used predominantly on facades with building-integrated photovoltaics.

The primary objective of this research project is therefore to comprehensively investigate the holistic structural behavior of framed standard modules and to develop suitable glazing assemblies, with the specific aim of ensuring that existing frames are taken into account in load transfer in the future. Fire safety must be evaluated and verified for the use of solar modules as facade components. The investigations of framed solar modules regarding structural and residual load-bearing behavior as well as fire safety focus on the necessary requirements and the resulting tests from the field of structural engineering—and, to some extent, from the field of electrical engineering—and are conducted in close coordination with the other consortium partners.