State of the Art: Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) Products

Building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems offer a promising pathway for embedding renewable energy generation into the built environment. However, their widespread adoption is hindered by inconsistent, incomplete, and non-standardized product information. This study systematically assesses the availability and completeness of information provided for commercially available BIPV products to identify critical information gaps affecting their adoption into modern construction. A comprehensive methodology was adopted, beginning with a literature review to identify key product attributes, resulting in 11 major attribute categories and 90 sub-attributes. These attributes were validated through semi-structured interviews with 27 industry professionals and subsequently used to examine information availability across 177 BIPV products from 15 countries, covering technical, economic, certification, warranty, and building-integration characteristics. The results show that information required for design, installation, and maintenance is frequently missing or inconsistently reported in manufacturer documentation. Building-related attributes are considerably underreported compared to electrical characteristics, limiting the usefulness of available information for design integration, simulation, and lifecycle assessment. Furthermore, continued perception of BIPV primarily as an electrical product contributes to fragmented documentation practices and inconsistent information provision. Hence, improved standardization and digitalization of BIPV product information are urgently required. The study demonstrates that the validated attribute structure can provide the foundation for standardized digital product information management, including BIM-compatible BIPV product libraries and centralized databases to support informed decision-making and wider industry adoption.