THE USE OF PV IN NET-ZERO ENERGY BUILDINGS: CHALLENGES AND PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

From 31 December 2020, all new buildings shall be nearly zero-net-energy consumption buildings (ZNEBs), according to the recast of the European Directive 2010/31/EU. In a Zero-net-energy buildings scenario, Photovoltaics (PV) is very suitable for generating energy, ‘on site’ and ‘at site’. This fact enlarges the perspective of use of PV from the architectural scale to a wider scale, including the space close to the building or even to the urban and landscape scale. The authors of this paper consider opportunities and challenges for the use of PV in ZNEBs and also perspectives for investigating the relationship between PV and ZNEBs.