Evaluation of photovoltaic potential by urban block typology: A case study of Wuhan, China

Due to the ever increasing energy demand, PV utilisation in the urban scale has become an attractive solution. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the effect of urban block type on solar potential. There exists a requirement to analyse solar potential in the real urban context of Wuhan based on block function and type. Therefore, this paper studies a real case in Wuhan's urban context by selecting 15 cases of real urban industrial, commercial and residential blocks. The PV output was calculated for roofs and facades respectively. The results obtained showed obvious differences between the three type of blocks, where commercial blocks received the most total solar irradiation, followed by residential blocks, and then industrial blocks. Similarly, the distribution of solar irradiation on roofs and facades for each block was vividly different based on the block type, owing to differences in building forms based on block function.