bFAST: a methodology for assessing the solar potential of façades in existing building stocks

The research presented in this paper is aimed at developing a new approach to assess the solar potential for photovoltaic (PV) integration in façades of existing buildings, by evaluating both energy and building features of the built environment. Since the feasibility of a BIPV plant, especially in façade, is strictly related to the construction compatibility and not only to the energy exploitability of surfaces, a key-part of the project basically focuses on the definition of a methodology to move the assessment from a "theoretical solar potential", actually provided by solar mapping tools, to a "more realistic" estimation considering the building with its typological and technical/constructive constraints together with urban morphology. The implementation of the main project results, developed within the project bFAST co-financed by Fondo Energie Rinnovabili (FER) of the Canton of Ticino, can be replicated in order to create the impact to support the transfer and implementation of integrated PV (BIPV) in the renovation of the built environment in the next years. The article provides an overview of this research by presenting the main motivations, methodological aspects and discussion on results.