Development, testing and first installations of an integrated solar roof system

There are some aspects of PV power systems which must be carefully considered in the detail design stage. These are a consequence of the nature of the PV conversion (i.e. that the efficiency reduces with increasing temperature), of the requirements of the building envelope (i.e. weatherability) and safety requirements (i.e. high voltage DC systems). This paper reports on a program to design, test and commercialise a PV power system within these constraints. The concept was tested in full scale prototype in the indoor solar simulator at the University in Cardiff, both for operational performance and for durability and weatherability. A first installation has just been completed in Oxford, UK.