Apr 25 2014
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "BIPV Glass Markets 2014 and Beyond" report to their offering.
This latest report on BIPV glass analyzes future scenarios for BIPV. It includes a detailed eight-year market forecast with breakouts by type of building and PV technology and in both volume and value terms. It also discusses the BIPV glass strategies of leading glass and PV firms as well the community of firms whose core business is developing and installing BIPV glass.
One possible road to a larger addressable market for BIPV glass will be to use solution-processed PV layers and here it is noted that both Pilkington and AGC are already actively involved in joint development projects that could do just that. With this in mind, this report examines how the economics of BIPV glass will evolve based on c-Si, thin-film, and DSC/OPV materials
This report also discusses how BIPV glass can better be sold to architects, who are sometimes skeptical of the BIPV glass concept, but remain the key decision makers on the demand side. In part this is about improved marketing. But as is discussed in this report, it is also a matter of playing up the aesthetic advantage of solar glass (for example with tinted and colored products) and by incorporating additional smart features such as hybrid light/photovoltaic capability.
The BIPV glass sector has been dominated by prestige buildings, which will account for 90 percent of BIPV glass revenues in 2014. However, BIPV glass is a key enabling technology for zero net energy buildings which are expected to expand rapidly due to the growing number of mandates in both the US and EU. For example, EU Directives demand zero energy capability for all buildings by 2021. As a result, BIPV glass for zero net energy buildings will reach $1.1 billion by 2019 compared with $30 million today.
Thin-film PV, DSC and OPV are often touted as technologies that will revolutionize BIPV glass because of their light weight, flexibility and potentially low cost. However, NanoMarkets contends that the poor business conditions that have beset the whole solar industry for the past thee years have set back the development of less conventional PV technologies. As a result crystalline silicon will continue to dominate the BIPV glass sector until after 2019. The only other solar material that is expected to do reasonably well in the BIPV glass sector during the forecasting period is CIGS, which will reach around $245 million in revenue by 2019.