Abstract
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.