Optimal Arrangement of Photovoltaic Panels Depending on Climate and Building’s Intended Use

In many contemporary projects of sustainable buildings the surface occupied by the photovoltaic (PV) panels is divided into parts having different orientations and slopes, different from the ideal arrangement. In case of re-use of existing buildings, the reason for this choice is generally the need to exploit the surfaces available on the roof. However, in the case of new buildings, the reason may consist in the need for continuous electricity generation along the day. The question that arises is the following: at what extent these solutions are less convenient than the optimal one? In this work different configurations of the PV park are compared using computer simulations. At first, the ideal arrangement was defined and compared with other configurations, inspired by actual projects. Then, a case study was examined: it is a residential building, typical of the Italian suburbs. The analysis was performed using the weather data of two Italian cities: Venice, in northeast, and Trapani, in southern Italy.