Abstract
To assess the performance and characteristics of colored building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) modules, a comparative assessment of empirical performance was conducted on colored BIPV modules (gray, blue, and orange) and general BIPV module. These modules were installed on the south-facing slope (30°) for comparative assessment through a field test. Monitoring data were collected every 10 min from December 20, 2019 to January 21, 2020 and used to performance and characteristics analysis. Performance ratio and module efficiency were utilized during performance indexing for comparative assessment. For general BIPV modules, the operational efficiency was analyzed at 16.63%, whereas for colored BIPV modules, 13.70% (gray), 15.12 % (blue), and 14.49% (orange) were analyzed. It was discovered that the efficiency reduction caused by transmission losses owing to the application of colored cover glasses were 17.74% (gray), 9.05% (blue), and 9.86 % (orange), under field testing conditions. These values turned on an additional 7% reduction in efficiency for gray BIPV modules, compared to the degradation resulting from transmission drop (gray: 10.87%, blue: 8.99%, and orange: 9.02%) calculated using the efficiency of each module in standard test conditions (STC). Performance ratio analysis resulted in the following values: 0.92 for general BIPV modules, and 0.85 (gray), 0.91 (blue), and 0.91 (orange) for colored BIPV modules. As demonstrated by the above results, modules with a colored cover glass may differ in their operational performance depending on their color, unlike general modules. Therefore, in addition to the performance evaluation under STC, additional factors of degradation require consideration through field test.