Abstract
Abstract. A web-based multi-criteria decision support tool is designed to support the planning, control and deployment of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) in the City of Cape Town, South Africa. Solar energy is one of the renewable sources for generating electricity by means of photovoltaic systems, and it offers a viable and expedient means of generating electricity within a short period of time. Nevertheless, there are some impediments to the extensive deployment of solar photovoltaic systems. The most prominent among these are generation potential and the high capital cost of initial set-up. Hence, the location, design and yield of building-integrated photovoltaic systems have to be well thought-out before their deployment. The interactive web-based tool designed utilises JavaScript and Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) to implement a map mashup, which can be queried to retrieve vital information about the solar photovoltaic potential of a building roof. From results generated and the system developed, it becomes possible to remotely and sufficiently evaluate buildings in the city in order to make decisions about solar photovoltaic potentials, designs and installations.
Highlights
It is becoming more difficult to achieve sustainability and reduce ecological footprint in urban areas due to greater proportion of the world’s population residing in cities and urban areas (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2013)
The JavaScript codes contained within the Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML) document are used in rendering the visualization and querying the published data layers in order to obtain the desired information about solar photovoltaic potentials
This paper aims to present solutions to impediments facing the large-scale deployment of building-integrated solar photovoltaic system
Summary
Some of the United Nation’s sustainable development goals centre on provision of clean energy and reduction of reliance on fossil fuels, which are the main cause of greenhouse gases (UN General Assembly, 2015). Countries in Africa are experiencing massive urbanization and if they continue to rely on fossil fuels alone for power generation, the environmental consequences would be grievous (Saghir, Santoro, 2018). It becomes important for African cities to chart a path to attain sustainability in terms of energy and climate, as its’ continual survival depends on it. Solar power offers the advantage of quick local implementation whilst fossil fuel, nuclear, etc. Solar power offers the advantage of quick local implementation whilst fossil fuel, nuclear, etc. require large generation infrastructure, taking more time to implement
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