Document Type : Review Article

Authors

• Fengling Han ¹
• Xun Yi ¹
• Rebecca Yang ²
• Ron Wakefield ²
• Yong Feng ³

¹ School of Science, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3001, Australia

² School of Property Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia

³ Department of Electrical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, 192 XiDazhi Street, Heilongjiang, 150006, China

Abstract

This letter reviews the related research on Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) for efficient utilization of solar energy, and further clarifies the concept of networked batteries. Taking Lithium-ion batteries as an example, maximizing the energy storage is the target, which is achieved by managing the charging and discharging of the individual batteries within a network. With the optimal management of the networked batteries, buildings constructed by using PV-capable materials are expected to be energy self-sufficient, which leads to zero-carbon energy supply. It is pointed out that the real-time estimation on the State-of-Charge (SoC) of Lithium-ion battery is crucial for secure management of the networked batteries.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

• BIPV
• networked batteries
• solar energy
• zero
• carbon ecosystem