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The sustainable transformation of the building industry is crucial for achieving regional and global energy goals. Among various emerging low-carbon technologies for the reduction of carbon emissions in buildings' life cycles, modular prefabricated buildings demonstrate significant energy-saving potential during the design and construction phases, while Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) technology can harness solar energy for electricity generation during the operational phase. This paper reviewed 63 empirical studies on BIPV envelope prototypes over the past decade. It explored the potential for these prototypes to evolve into prefabricated modules, considering design applications and performance outcomes. 80 papers related to modular prefabricated buildings were briefly reviewed to get a general view of the research focus in this field. The review examines 12 existing studies on prefabricated BIPV technology based on practical applications to assess the technical feasibility and energy-saving advantages of integrating modular prefabricated buildings with BIPV systems. Lastly, based on different stages in a project, potential opportunities and challenges have been analyzed and future development directions were outlined as well. • Review of BIPV prototypes as potential prefabricated components. • Critical analysis of strengths and barriers for modular prefabricated buildings. • Review recent prototype prefabricated BIPV. • Identification of opportunities and challenges for prefabricated BIPV. • Analysis of potential research directions in the future.
Bao et al. (Mon,) studied this question.