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Landscape quality has become a fundamental issue in the development of renewable energy (RE) projects. Rapid technological advances in RE production and distribution, coupled with changing policy frameworks, bring specific challenges during planning in order to avoid degradation of landscape quality. The current work provides a comprehensive review on RE landscapes and the impacts of RE systems on landscape for most European countries. It is based on a review, by an interdisciplinary international team of experts, of empirical research findings on landscape impacts of RE from thirty-seven countries that have participated in the COST Action TU1401 (RELY).

This glossary has three functions: 1. It will ensure, that all project participants use the same terms and terminology 2. That all project participants understand the same things by using this terms 3. It will be one major outcome of RELY that shall be accessible via RELY homepage.

Cities are consumers of large amounts of energy. They require uninterrupted energy supply but with dynamic power profile.Mainly consumption of energy generated from fossil fuels is present todaywith consequence significant pollution of the environment.The sustainable energy transition in cities means increasing the supply of energy from renewable sources.Thepaperpoints to the integration of PV renewable systems in the built environment, opportunities and constraints, design conditions and tools. The consideration of the constraints which creates urban environment is carried out in order to understand the complexity of selecting locations in the cities. In thissense, the paper gives an overview of the possibilitiesof PV systemsintegration in the built environment, and discusses physical limitations in the urban environment and simulation toolsas well as challenges and research and development issues.

This paper will introduce a recently initiated COST Action titled PEARL PV and show its 4-year research and work plan with the aim to create exposure, receive feedback from various stakeholders and involve new participants to this research network. The aim is i) to improve the energy performance and reliability of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems in Europe leading to lower costs of electricity produced by PV systems by a higher energy yield, ii) a longer life time eventually beyond the guaranteed 20 years as specified by manufacturers, and iii) a reduction in the perceived risk in investments in PV projects. This objective will be achieved by analyzing big data of the actual monitored long-term performance, defects and failures in PV systems installed all over Europe to quantitatively determine the absolute influences of components rated performance, key design of systems, installation, operation, maintenance practice, geographic location and weather factors on the performance, performance degradation over time and failure modes of these PV systems. The PEARL PV project aims at the formation of an inclusive network of PV system researchers, data resources that will be analyzed by researchers and experts that can include more-nuanced evidence-based reliability in PV system evaluation methods and simulation and design tools. The COST Action PEARL PV assembles an inclusive partnership network of PV system researchers with experience with PV monitoring and simulation, with solar resources, and with PV operators who collectively bring together their ongoing work to contribute to the collation, analysis and interpretation of an agglomeration of PV system performance data in Europe.

29th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition; 3592-3605, Net Zero Energy Buildings (NetZEBs) design has become a crucial topic of research in recent years. Due to its complexity, discussion has been done on methodological criteria useful to define and assess NetZEBs (building system boundary, conversion factors, energy balance, interaction with the grid, monitoring, etc.), mainly with the engineering approach, and a number of case studies worldwide have been investigated. In regard to Photovoltaics’ (PV) design, research demonstrated that: PV is an indispensable technology for meeting the net zero energy target; 2: meeting the target of the net zero energy balance at the architectural scale (by using the only surfaces of the building envelope to place renewables) is very difficult and therefore 3. an extension of the balance boundary to a wider scale is needed. That is: the concept of NetZEB should be advanced towards the one of Net Zero Energy Community (NetZEC). In view of such an enlargement of the design domain, this paper investigates architectural and landscape design options (spatial features and outdoor thermal comfort considerations) for PV, based on the analysis of case studies collected and assessed in the framework of the International Energy Agency (IEA) SHC-EBC Task 40-Annex 52 Net Zero Energy Solar Buildings. Considering that the traditional understanding of the use of PV in buildings, mainly rooted in technological and morphological considerations, is not sufficient to describe all the issues emerging from this analysis, this paper is a contribution for setting a new cognitive framework in view of PV design for NetZECs.

This reports presents a collection of 34 case studies on solar energy in urban planning, addressing how the planning process has been developed, how the stakeholders have been involved, which instruments have been applied, which energy technology and environmental impact have been addressed and what the role was of the researchers during the entire process. The case studies from 10 countries include examples of new urban areas, existing urban areas and landscapes. Document Number: Task 51/Report C1

This document shows product developments and dissemination activities carried out within the framework of, or in close relation to, the project IEA SHC Task 41; Solar Energy and Architecture. This Task gathered researchers and practicing architects from 14 countries in the three year project whose aim was to identify the obstacles architects are facing when incorporating solar design in their projects, to provide resources for overcoming these barriers and to help improving architects’ communication with other stakeholders in the design of solar buildings. Participating countries were Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. The report gives not a complete list of activities, but shows the different types of activities to spread the findings in Task 41 and to initiate product developments in participating countries.

This document is addressed to manufacturers of photovoltaic systems. It describes the main criteria for a successful integration of PV systems in buildings and proposes a methodology for the design of systems specifically conceived for building integration. For each specific sub-technology, it provides a comprehensive set of practical recommendations that should lead to the production of new systems appealing to architects.

This document is conceived for architects and intended to be as clear and practical as possible. It summarizes the knowledge needed to integrate active solar technologies (solar thermal and photovoltaics) into buildings, handling at the same time architectural integration issues and energy production requirements. Solar thermal and photovoltaics are treated separately, but the information is given following the same structure: 1- Main technical information; 2- Constructive/functional integration possibilities in the envelope layers; 3- System sizing and positioning criteria; 4- Good integration examples; 5- Formal flexibility offered by standard products; 6 - Innovative market products. To complete the information the manual ends with a short section dedicated to the differences and similarities between solar thermal and photovoltaic systems, with the purpose to help architects make an energetic and architecturally optimized use of the sun exposed surfaces of their buildings.