Abstract
In this paper a case study is examined with an innovative open source tool for designing cost effective BIPV+ battery systems. The aim is to bring awareness of the economic profitability and visual impact of a BIPV system to the designer in the early stage of the architectural design. The main factors influencing the output are the sunlight availability, its variation along the HOY (Hour Of the Year), the electric demand, the cost of different parts of the system and the cost of electricity. The method is applied on a group of three residential high-rise buildings in northern Italy, the system is optimized for maximum NPV (Net Present Value) or for an established IRR (Internal Rate of Return) supposing different prices for the electric storage. The system has been sized using two different demand profiles: one from a well known building standard and a realistic one produced with a stochastic generator and calibrated on a measured aggregated demand profile. Using the realistic curve the coverage of the electric demand of the optimized configuration goes beyond 20%.