Reaching climate targets with building integrated Photovoltaics

The Aktiv-Stadthaus in Frankfurt am Main achieves the efficiency house Plus Standard despite difficult conditions.

The Aktiv-Stadthaus in Frankfurt am Main achieves the efficiency house Plus Standard despite difficult conditions. © HHS Planer + Architekten AG, Kassel

By 2050, the building stock in Germany must be almost climate-neutral in order to achieve the climate targets - an ambitious goal. Especially in cities with multi-storey buildings, roof areas alone do not offer sufficient space to cover a significant portion of the electricity demand with photovoltaics. There is now a wide range of façade elements that generate photovoltaic electricity. So far, however, such building-integrated PV modules have rarely been installed. The Advisory Centre for Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BAIP) at HZB wants to change this:

Through intensive exchange between builders, architects, investors, planners, manufacturers, developers and authorities, it wants to help ensure that this option is taken into account as a matter of course in the future.

Exchange of experiences and best practice examples

As one of the first measures, the Advisory Centre for Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BAIP) invited architects to an exchange of experiences. The event with the somewhat provocative title "Architecture and Photovoltaics: Beauty and the Beast" was completely booked out and was recognised as an advanced training course by several regional chambers of architects.

Read the full article (in German) here

Markus Sauerborn

  • Copy link

You might also be interested in

  • BESSY II: Evaporated perovskites in tandem solar cells improved
    Science Highlight
    26.08.2026
    BESSY II: Evaporated perovskites in tandem solar cells improved
    Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells achieve significantly higher efficiencies than silicon solar cells on their own. One particularly attractive method is co-evaporation of the perovskite precursor molecules on top of the silicon subcell. Scientists at HZB have analysed film growth on the nanoscale at BESSY II and found a new way to improve the quality of the perovskite layer: adding a thin seed layer of caesium chloride between the two sub-cells promotes uniform perovskite growth and suppresses the formation of undesired lead iodide at the interface.
  • Five Berlin-based research institutions join forces in data-driven materials research
    News
    22.07.2026
    Five Berlin-based research institutions join forces in data-driven materials research
    Research data is regarded as key to materials research in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Five Berlin-based research institutions have now signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish long-term collaboration in the fields of research data, data infrastructures and AI.
  • Perovskites: the future of PV? - The smarter-E Podcast
    News
    07.07.2026
    Perovskites: the future of PV? - The smarter-E Podcast
    Perovskites: The Race for the Future of PV?