Estimating surface utilization factors for BIPV applications using pix2pix on street captured façade images
Open access
Date
2023-11Type
- Conference Paper
ETH Bibliography
yes
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Abstract
While techniques for assessing solar potential, particularly on roofs, are well-established, estimating solar potential on building facades often requires more work due to the complexity of urban features and the elaborate design of building facades. Existing methods to assess the solar potential of building facades often neglect the characteristics of individual facades. This study presents an image-based method for a more accurate estimation of the PV potential of facades. The proposed method is composed of four steps: (1) data acquisition, preprocessing, and manual labeling, (2) training a pixel-wise semantic image segmentation model based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), (3) color content analysis of segmented images, and (4) estimating the annual solar energy potential. We apply the proposed workflow to several buildings in Zurich, Switzerland, and evaluate segmentation quality and resulting changes in façade surface utilization factors. In a comparative analysis between the widely used web-based solar potential assessment tools, Sonnenfassade, Global Solar Atlas and the simulation software Climate Studio, we demonstrate the downstream impact of surface utilization factors on resulting solar potentials. Considerable deviations in façade availability for BIPV deployments among the various tools as compared to our segmentation approach indicate the potential impact of the proposed method on policy-making and the benefits for BIPV design and planning. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000646413Publication status
publishedExternal links
Book title
CISBAT International Conference 2023: Renewable EnergyJournal / series
Journal of Physics: Conference SeriesVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
IOP PublishingEvent
Subject
Building Integrated Photovoltaics; Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN)Organisational unit
03902 - Schlüter, Arno / Schlüter, Arno
08060 - FCL / FCL
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ETH Bibliography
yes
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