Novel approach for concentrating and harvesting solar radiation in hybrid transparent photovoltaic façade’s in Southern Africa

Electrical consumption and the price thereof is rapidly increasing in South Africa. Finding alternatives to the current grid-tied electricity supply in the country is a prodigious concern to the South African economy due to historic unreliability. The national power grid and the South African economy can extensively benefit from utilizing solar energy as an abundant clean and renewable energy source. This paper considers and further investigates power generation utilising a novel approach to transparent solar façades (windows). Harvesting solar energy is consequently included in the building envelope, which improves building efficiency while reducing demand on the national electric grid. The impacts, design, modelling and results of this novel approach to Photo Voltaic (PV) systems, is further examined in this paper. These systems are aimed to be used in the commercial and residential market. Factoring in the location, design and installation of the solar façade, geographical conditions relevant to South Africa were used to evaluate the transparent façade’s performance. The generated power from a façade depends on solar irradiation, orientation, (Azimuth and Zenith angles); climate conditions such as temperature and rainfall; and other solar constraints. These factors were incorporated using average values from meteorological data.