PARAMETRIC SIMULATION STUDIES - SOLAR FRACTION CHARTS FOR URBAN PLANNING IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

This paper introduces Solar fraction charts aimed at supporting solar urban planning in Singapore. Solar fraction describes how much of a building’s annual electricity consumption can be generated by building integrated PV. A fraction of 100% denotes a net-zero energy building, where the annual electricity generation equals the consumption over the same period. Solar fraction depends on various parameters, such as the energy consumption of the building, the amount of irradiance on the building’s roof and facade, the percentage of roof and facade area covered with PV, and the efficiency of the PV system. Simplified building blocks of different PR were simulated using Singapore weather data and resulting irradiance on roof and facades post processed with different combinations of above parameters. The results are solar fraction charts for different combinations and PR. The charts also give rise to maximum PR for net-zero energy buildings in Singapore.

Furthermore, software selection will be done through several irradiation tests on different software such as Ecotect, Diva by Radiance and PPF4SERIS without any other variables done on the models. This study will be done to increase the software’s compatibility in aiding design processes, exploit certain strengths of different software applicable to different design stages and finally, to compare the coherence of results and trends from 3 different software’ algorithm and weather data.