Prefabricated building integrated photovoltaics: cost and deployment

Technology development, commercialisation, and manufacturing scaling have contributed significantly to rapid reductions in solar photovoltaic hardware costs. However, the soft costs, including design, financing, procurement, permitting, installation, labour, and inspection, have not declined rapidly. The lack of economic confidence and the lack of collaboration between the PV and building industries make the integration of prefabricated solar panels to the building envelope difficult. This research evaluates the mechanisms driving the cost reductions and deployment of prefabricated BIPV. The research aims to formalise a deployment framework by empirically breaking down prefabricated BIPV cost trajectories into a set of low- and high-level factors and identify their reduction potentials.