Michaël Daenen - imec - Hasselt University / EnergyVille (Academia) & Marc Meuris - EnFoil (Industry)

The European Union's has formulated ambitious goals in relation to defossilization of the built environment even up to the point of achieving positive-energy buildings and districts.  Building-integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) will play a crucial role in achieving these targets in the European context.  
  
BIPV is quite distinct from standard applications of PV.  The presentation will explore several key research questions related to BIPV, including aesthetics, cost reduction, mass customization, lifetime extension, and design for reliability. This includes the integration of materials and support structures as a critical aspect of BIPV research.  The presentation will also encompass industrial valorization aspects in Flanders.  The companies Soltech and Enfoil will show how they are bringing the R&D aspects, discussed in the first part of the presentation, to higher TRL-levels within an industrial context.  More specifically they will showcase how they will produce BIPV facade modules and flexible, curved modules. 
This can be considered as a teaser how seamless integration of multifunctional PV in a densely populated region like Flanders opens up a multitude of opportunities to produce renewable electricity and, equally important, to create new and innovative industrial value chains.