Discussions about upcoming PV obligations have started in Europe and, in some federal states, specific regulations have been implemented from the start of 2022.

In some of the European member states, the building codes are organised on a federal state level, largely to take into account the regional conditions, such as different snow loads etc.

In relation to solar obligation, certain federal states have now taken the lead.

For example, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany has mandated PV installation for parking spaces bigger than 35 cars.  Schleswig-Holstein starts at 100 carparks.

In other federal states, the focus is more on building renovations and roof tops.  In Berlin, for example, PV installation will be mandatory for new private buildings and for rooftop renovations from January 2023.

An advisory service, BAIP https://www.helmholtz-berlin.de/projects/baip/index_de.html, which trains architects and real estate companies on BIPV, has been introduced.

For example, the Swiss Heritage organisation, criticises the plans for a PV obligation in Basel to place solar cells on unprotected historic buildings, with Andreas Häner, Director of the Basel section of Swiss Heritage, saying,

“If we put photovoltaics on all the roofs, the image of the city will be destroyed“.

Facades are considered to be possible alternatives.

As demonstrated in the data from the ClearZero Archetype model energy report, an absolute zero energy balance is only possible if the transparent window surfaces are also activated.  Accordingly, ClearVue’s offering can be seen as a supplement to all the above planned measures, particularly on rooftops and carports.

UNPRECEDENTED MEASURE IN BASEL-STADT THAT MAKES SOLAR PANELS ON ROOFS MANDATORY – READ ARTICLE

The launch of the ClearZero Archetype and it’s announcement earlier in January 2022 has piqued a huge amount of interest across Europe, so much so that the full archetype energy report has been translated to German and distributed across our business networks, as well as our investor relations and associated partnering platforms.

With 75% of the European building stock considerably lacking in terms of energy efficiency, we see incredible potential for ClearVuePV in the retrofit and building renovation space, in addition to new builds.  The impressive data derived from the energy modelling exercise that produced the ClearZero Archetype, has now prompted the need for a similar model to be created for the retrofit scenario using a historical building in order to help create sustainable cities, to meet the climate and energy targets of the European Green Deal.

The European Commission is calling for a 20-fold increase in renovation rates of existing buildings to help fuel a green economic recovery.

pv magazine, Germany reports on the ambitions of the newly created Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection in Germany, to ensure a strong surge in demand for photovoltaics with a new version of the German renewable energy law.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action presented the new measures, which includes an increase in solar capacity, to be allocated through tenders and the mandatory installation of PV systems in all commercial buildings.

Installed photovoltaic capacity is expected to increase by around 140-200GW by 2030.

Read pv Magazine, Germany article HERE