Surrounding Photovoltaic Façade Sihlweid – First Yield Results and Analysis

As part of a core refurbishment of two 60 meter high tower blocks in Zurich Leimbach, all four facades of each building were covered with standard microcrystalline and amorphous thin film tandem modules. As in January 2012 the renovating process of the first tower block was completed, its photovoltaic plant started energy generation. More than one year later, first results of the energy production and operating data of the system can be presented. The production data has been analyzed and evaluated for all four facade sides as well as for the overall system. Module circuitry considering partial shading, inverter configurations as well as energy yields and plant efficiencies had been calculated by students as part of their bachelor thesis at the Laboratory for Photovoltaics of Bern University of Applied Sciences BUAS. These calculations were used as a basis for planning and implementation of the refurbishment. Thanks to the yield data of the first year of operation, it is now possible to relate the calculations and evaluate the utility of the selected configurations.