# A Holistic Approach for Design and Assessment of Building-Integrated Photovoltaics Systems
## 1 Introduction
It can be described as a global radiation distribution for a discretized sky vault or a discrete diffuse radiation distribution with a subset of statistical or sun hours and produces annual irradiance images from a single simulation. The method successfully combines the advantages of the alternative approaches represented by computational efficiency and accuracy. This approach has found particular application in estimating accurate annual solar irradiance at the building structure and its surroundings. It helps identify areas with potential for PV and sites with excessive solar exposure (overheating) that should consider shading options to reduce solar penetration. Another accurate method to predict PV potential through surface irradiance is the \(A360\) rendering method used in Autodesk Green Building Studio. This method is validated at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), according to the standard calculation methods for irradiance [24]. Both methods present valuable tools for estimating BIPV potential that can compete with tools designed only for conventional PV systems while effectively and accurately representing complex shading and environments [25]. The authors in [26] described an empirical validation of the EnergyPlus simulation tool for a double-skin facade (DSF) performance simulation. A series of experiments were conducted for cavity airflow and thermal behavior of the DSF and then compared with simulation outputs. It also shows significant differences in the thermal and airflow behavior of DSFs between the measurements and simulation predictions by EnergyPlus. Another example is presented in [27], where a dynamic simulation, energy, and economic analysis of BIPV and BIPVT collectors were developed in TRNSYS. Both systems were coupled with small-sized wind turbines (WTs) to reduce the fluctuations of power production typical of solar systems. In [28], solar design tools which are used to analyze BIPV systems were directly compared. However, the tools studied can analyze these types of projects partially because not all of them consider the variety of factors that might directly affect the efficiency of a BIPV project. Some tools combine CAD design or consider techno-economic analysis, their results approaching real-case scenarios. This work was used as a base material for the report presented in [29] in which a compilation of the most relevant aspects oriented to the design, planning, and management of BIPV systems were presented. The authors identified 15 key factors which were widely discussed. The report can be considered a valuable tool for understanding the potential and limitations of BIPV. Moreover, it provides useful information for software tools oriented to BIPV systems. From the literature review, the authors identified interesting aspects such as: lack of clear procedures for the design of BIPV systems due to the particular structural conditions of buildings and the need for information concerning the manipulation of PV devices for their use in BIPV systems. Considering the weather conditions in Colombia, it is important to study all possible applications of photovoltaics, such as BIPV systems. Taking into account the aspects discussed above, this paper addresses the problem of design, simulation, and economic analysis of a BIPV system located in Colombia. The system was implemented in a real residential structure which allowed contrasting the results of produced energy with simulations. A 90\({}^{\circ}\) axis rotation was also considered in the simulation in order to analyze a different radiation profile and its impact on the BIPV system performance as well as geospatial parameters. The main contributions of the study are:  
* A detailed description of the design of the PV components used in the BIPV system which can be adopted in other cases. * An assessment procedure to define the technical and economic feasibility of the BIPV system.