As we have seen over the last few years the market growth of commercial and residential solar systems is increasing due to demand, lower costs and a spark of imagination by architects and engineers throughout the country. The growth of the photovoltaic (PV) market is outpacing the cost of the product allowing the industry to begin efforts in transforming the marketplace. Over the years the cost to manufacture PV modules has reduced. In fact, today’s PV systems produce electricity at a fraction of the cost of early PV. By comparison, early PV modules converted approximately 1%-2% of sunlight into electric energy.
Renewable Energy in proportion to total United States Energy Supply: 2001
Today’s PV devices convert 10%-20% of sunlight into electric energy, a trend noticed by Federal, state, and local governments throughout the United States and Canada. In addition to over 100 kW (Total 750 kW commitment) of current solar photovoltaic installations in the City of Chicago, commitments of another 2.3 MW of solar thermal systems over the next three (3) years will place Chicago at the top of municipal leadership in the solar industry.
The rapid growth of the market for fully integrated photovoltaics (PV) on buildings has provided consumers and designers alike with a wide range of products that have been developed for mounting PV on buildings. These include simple structures supporting PV modules on flat roofs, PV tiles and shingles, complex curtain wall systems and architectural features such as skylights and window shades. Although, a decrease in the cost to produce PV vs. increasing market share is the best case scenario for the industry, PV is approximately 1% of the total United States energy production mix.
The design community continues to struggle with first cost. One approach design teams may consider is comparing the alternative photovoltaic system with that of a conventional roof or curtainwall system(s). Next, incentives, grants or other methods for reducing the first costs are compared between the two (2) products/systems. The resultant will illustrate the additional capital investment at time of construction and the short and long-term payback thereby providing a clearer picture of the costs and benefits of PV installations. In our experience, confidence in a fully integrated design measure like PV is being built through the architect/client relationships only to become jeopardized when bid documents and cost estimation moves forward. In fact, A Design Consulting is seeing an increase in costs related to labor due to the lack of trained electrical contractors all over the United States. Perhaps, this can be attributed to lack of confidence and experience in the construction trades here in the United States similar to the labor cost differentials seen between steel stud and stick installations of the early 1990s. Regardless, more involvement by the industry is needed. Workshops for electrical unions, training seminars for designers and increased reporting of case studies with real data that can be used throughout the design processes are all activities and functions that can be supported by the industry.
