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A Quantitative Study of the Influence of Urban Form on Large-Scale Application of Rooftop Photovoltaics Using Simplified Method

Received: 29 May 2021     Accepted: 8 June 2021     Published: 16 June 2021
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Abstract

The large-scale application of distributed photovoltaic system is often impeded by the shading effect between buildings and mismatch between the solar power generation and building energy consumption. This paper explores the relationship between urban form and rooftop photovoltaic installation and utilization potential with implications for low-carbon city planning. This study first investigated the influence of the urban form on the installation potential of the solar rooftop photovoltaics for 12 cities across China which covering different solar climate zones. The significant impact of the urban density on the photovoltaic installation potential is only observed in the cities in high latitude areas with medium solar radiation, and the negative impact can be mitigated by reducing the building height differences, which up to 25% improvement can be expected. Then, taking Shenzhen as an example, the influence of the urban form on the photovoltaic power generation utilization was further investigated for residential, commercial and office type of district building energy consumption profiles. It is found that the densely developed urban built-up environment has positive effect on the solar power utilization in which high percentage of the self-consumption ratio is observed. The self-consumption ratio of the residential district which is the lowest can be effectively improved by mixing with office and business buildings. For typical urban form in Shenzhen which the BCR and FAR are 0.35 and 2.5 respectively, if carefully planned, the rooftop photovoltaics can provide 12.6~18.5% of the building energy consumption and 69.8~75% of the solar power can be directly used by the building, which make the rooftop photovoltaics an important clean and economical energy resource for low-carbon city development.

Published in International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy (Volume 10, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14
Page(s) 63-75
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Urban Form, Rooftop Photovoltaics, Self-sufficiency Ratio, Self-consumption Ratio

References
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    Yutong Li, Kang Jing, Fengrong Liu, Fuyou Zhao. (2021). A Quantitative Study of the Influence of Urban Form on Large-Scale Application of Rooftop Photovoltaics Using Simplified Method. International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy, 10(2), 63-75. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14

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    ACS Style

    Yutong Li; Kang Jing; Fengrong Liu; Fuyou Zhao. A Quantitative Study of the Influence of Urban Form on Large-Scale Application of Rooftop Photovoltaics Using Simplified Method. Int. J. Sustain. Green Energy 2021, 10(2), 63-75. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14

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    AMA Style

    Yutong Li, Kang Jing, Fengrong Liu, Fuyou Zhao. A Quantitative Study of the Influence of Urban Form on Large-Scale Application of Rooftop Photovoltaics Using Simplified Method. Int J Sustain Green Energy. 2021;10(2):63-75. doi: 10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14,
      author = {Yutong Li and Kang Jing and Fengrong Liu and Fuyou Zhao},
      title = {A Quantitative Study of the Influence of Urban Form on Large-Scale Application of Rooftop Photovoltaics Using Simplified Method},
      journal = {International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy},
      volume = {10},
      number = {2},
      pages = {63-75},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijrse.20211002.14},
      abstract = {The large-scale application of distributed photovoltaic system is often impeded by the shading effect between buildings and mismatch between the solar power generation and building energy consumption. This paper explores the relationship between urban form and rooftop photovoltaic installation and utilization potential with implications for low-carbon city planning. This study first investigated the influence of the urban form on the installation potential of the solar rooftop photovoltaics for 12 cities across China which covering different solar climate zones. The significant impact of the urban density on the photovoltaic installation potential is only observed in the cities in high latitude areas with medium solar radiation, and the negative impact can be mitigated by reducing the building height differences, which up to 25% improvement can be expected. Then, taking Shenzhen as an example, the influence of the urban form on the photovoltaic power generation utilization was further investigated for residential, commercial and office type of district building energy consumption profiles. It is found that the densely developed urban built-up environment has positive effect on the solar power utilization in which high percentage of the self-consumption ratio is observed. The self-consumption ratio of the residential district which is the lowest can be effectively improved by mixing with office and business buildings. For typical urban form in Shenzhen which the BCR and FAR are 0.35 and 2.5 respectively, if carefully planned, the rooftop photovoltaics can provide 12.6~18.5% of the building energy consumption and 69.8~75% of the solar power can be directly used by the building, which make the rooftop photovoltaics an important clean and economical energy resource for low-carbon city development.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - A Quantitative Study of the Influence of Urban Form on Large-Scale Application of Rooftop Photovoltaics Using Simplified Method
    AU  - Yutong Li
    AU  - Kang Jing
    AU  - Fengrong Liu
    AU  - Fuyou Zhao
    Y1  - 2021/06/16
    PY  - 2021
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14
    T2  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    JF  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    JO  - International Journal of Sustainable and Green Energy
    SP  - 63
    EP  - 75
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1549
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijrse.20211002.14
    AB  - The large-scale application of distributed photovoltaic system is often impeded by the shading effect between buildings and mismatch between the solar power generation and building energy consumption. This paper explores the relationship between urban form and rooftop photovoltaic installation and utilization potential with implications for low-carbon city planning. This study first investigated the influence of the urban form on the installation potential of the solar rooftop photovoltaics for 12 cities across China which covering different solar climate zones. The significant impact of the urban density on the photovoltaic installation potential is only observed in the cities in high latitude areas with medium solar radiation, and the negative impact can be mitigated by reducing the building height differences, which up to 25% improvement can be expected. Then, taking Shenzhen as an example, the influence of the urban form on the photovoltaic power generation utilization was further investigated for residential, commercial and office type of district building energy consumption profiles. It is found that the densely developed urban built-up environment has positive effect on the solar power utilization in which high percentage of the self-consumption ratio is observed. The self-consumption ratio of the residential district which is the lowest can be effectively improved by mixing with office and business buildings. For typical urban form in Shenzhen which the BCR and FAR are 0.35 and 2.5 respectively, if carefully planned, the rooftop photovoltaics can provide 12.6~18.5% of the building energy consumption and 69.8~75% of the solar power can be directly used by the building, which make the rooftop photovoltaics an important clean and economical energy resource for low-carbon city development.
    VL  - 10
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Shenzhen Institute of Building Research, CO., LTD., Shenzhen, China

  • Shenzhen Institute of Building Research, CO., LTD., Shenzhen, China

  • Shenzhen Institute of Building Research, CO., LTD., Shenzhen, China

  • Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

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