A review on current application and feasibility study on wider adoption of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in commercial buildings in Hong Kong

Abstract

Addressing climate change by mitigation method – reducing the GHGs production is one of the significant tasks in mankind in the 2020s. While it is known that the construction and real estate sector is one of the major polluters of the environment, various methods, such as mandating Building Energy Codes, have been used to set a minimum standard for the developers to increase energy efficiency for buildings. Nevertheless, there is another angle we can use to tackle the same problem. This is by generating onsite RE (solar) through unleashing the potential of rooftop and façade of buildings and installing solar photovoltaics (PV) systems on them. Feed-in Tariff (FiT), one of the major policy that provide financial incentives to the public, was launched in 2018. The policy introduces a new business model for rooftop solar PV, allowing it to become profitable and an investment tool. However, there are still some major barriers to wider adoption of the rooftop solar PV systems, namely limited space on the rooftops of existing buildings and uncertainty of FiT scheme after 2033. One interesting finding is that FiT is only one of the major incentives for commercial building owners to install solar PV systems. More factors are behind; some examples are, the GFA concession with BEAM plus and the popularization of Green Finance and ESG concept. Some policy initiatives that could lead to wider adoption of rooftop solar PV are included in the Ch.6 However, Feed-in Tariff does not significantly change the technological transition for the building-integrated solar PV (BIPV) system. The nature of BIPV system, needing to be customized and incurring high costs, had jeopardized the wider adoption of the technology. The major barriers behind the limited deployment of BIPV are the long payback period, technological immaturity, low market acceptance, lack of professional and lack of government support. While popularizing of green finance provides more available resources for the deployment of these RE projects, technical, economic and financial, market, regulatory and institutional and social enablers are necessary for encouraging the adoption of BIPV. By introducing these enables in Ch.6, it is in the hope that these policy enablers can tackle the barriers, ultimately lead to a breakthrough in technology, change in the socio-technical landscape, and eventually the socio-technical regime of the construction and real estate sector.