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• The building integrated with bifacial PV modules was established. • The indoor environment and comfort of the PV building were studied. • An optimization design of the PV building was put forward to improve the indoor environment. In comparison with common PV module, bifacial PV module can increase energy output by installing cells on both sides of the module. Due to the thermoelectric effect in the rear, the impact of bifacial PV module on indoor environment is more complex. To study indoor environment of bifacial PV module as building envelope, a building integrated bifacial PV module was established. Through the experiments and simulation of the PV building, it is found that thermal stratification is obvious at noon in summer, which indicates the bifacial PV module causes a large influence on the indoor temperature. PMV is between -1 and +1 in summer nights and winter days but it becomes poor in sunny days due to the large solar radiation intensity. Additionally, the indoor light environment is studied. The indoor lighting is ideal in general but overlarge when the solar radiation is too strong. For the purpose of improving the indoor comfort, the coverage of PV module was changed and the heat insulation reflective layer was installed behind the PV modules. With the optimization design, the indoor environment has been significantly improved, and the period of annual thermal comfort has increased by 8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel CPV/T module using asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator was built. • The average total efficiency of the CPV/T system achieves 66.3%. • The concentrator tilt angle of 30° is most conducive to optimizing the performance. • The system has the best applicability in high latitude areas. Aiming at the problem that the efficiency of traditional photovoltaic thermal system is not high enough and the grade of heat energy generated is low, a novel concentrated photovoltaic-thermal system with asymmetric compound parabolic concentrator (ACPC-PV/T) integrated with facade was proposed. The system maximizes the contact area between the channel and the solar cell, which is beneficial for improving heat transfer efficiency. A comprehensive performance study was conducted on the proposed system and optimization methods were proposed. Through the experiments and simulation, the results show that the electrical efficiency of the system is 5% and 7.6% higher than that of traditional modules in summer and winter, respectively, and the thermal efficiency in summer and winter is 51% and 42%, respectively. Further research was conducted on the impact of different tilt angles of concentrators on thermoelectric performance and the global applicability of the device. The results showed that in Chengdu, a concentrator tilt angle of around 30 degrees can most effectively improve module performance. On a global scale, this module has shown good performance, even in areas with lower radiation level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]