Civil aviation is a large and growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The airports that host commercial flights are often national landmarks and architectural showcases. They are typically large, horizontal and free of shading, and are also ideally suited for the integration of photovoltaic (PV) systems for onsite generation of clean and renewable electricity. While ground-mounted PV generators should be designed for optimum performance, PV systems integrated on buildings should also consider aesthetics. We have analysed building-applied and building-integrated PV systems (BAPV and BIPV). In BAPV, optimised PV module orientation and tilt angles were proposed for maximum annual output, while in BIPV, modules were accommodated respecting the existing architecture of airport buildings. Two Brazilian airports were analysed, comparing the performance of BAPV and BIPV using two “off-the-shelf” PV technologies. On average, both the installed peak power and the energy generation density were found to be higher for BIPV (100% and 87%, respectively), while the final annual energy yield was 7% higher for BAPV. A compromise of pleasant integration and small energy losses was reached, which can assist in convincing clients and the public more than an ideally tilted and oriented PV generator that impacts negatively on the building's aesthetics.

Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) energy transfer in a smart grid environment opens a new revenue opportunity for electric-drive vehicles (EVs), and might reduce grid operation costs in demand-constrained urban feeders where peak-electricity prices are high. This paper analyses the peak demand energy market for V2G in the urban region of Florianópolis, Brazil. The article describes known V2G-concepts and introduces two different dispatch strategies developed for the Brazilian energy market in the light of new tariff regulations, which are expected to go into effect starting in 2014. It turns out that electric-drive vehicles may be used as a grid-stabilisation strategy, but the announced tariff regulations may lead to a destabilisation if there are too many cars offering their internal storage for V2G grid support. Adequate energy policy strategies must be introduced to avoid the conflicting interests that might stem from the different perspectives of grid operators and EV owners. In contrast to previous analyses, this research assumes the battery degradation as a function of depth of discharge (DOD), which is known for a specific battery.

Photovoltaic (PV) generation depends directly on the amount of radiation received by solar modules at a given temperature, and annual irradiation varies according to site location and PV array position. In this paper, the limitations and the solar irradiation levels received by building surfaces in different positions (with azimuth and tilt angle variation) in capital cities in Brazil are shown, making use of the Brazilian global horizontal solar irradiation data provided by the SWERA (Solar and Wind Energy Resource Assessment) project. These data were processed to generate figures on the irradiation at various PV module orientations and slopes for each city, which show the relative radiation levels received on specific azimuth and tilt angles in relation to the ideal position. Results were validated using four real and operating PV systems. In general, variations in azimuth or slope did not cause large annual irradiation losses up to around 20° tilt angles. This shows to PV system planners that under these fairly flexible conditions it is possible to install PV on any orientation, keeping high levels of annual irradiation, and that limitations in orientation and tilt can be relatively low. It also allows a quick analysis of PV retrofit in building-applied photovoltaics (BAPV), when seeking the best building surfaces to incorporate PV.