As India progresses towards its net-zero emissions target by 2070, the Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) Council, in collaboration with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), organised a Stakeholder Consultation Workshop on “Scaling BIPV Integration in India: Challenges & Opportunities” at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
The consultation brought together policymakers, industry leaders, architects, researchers, financial institutions, and international experts to discuss strategies for accelerating the adoption of Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) across India’s expanding built environment. BIPV systems integrate solar power generation directly into building components such as façades, rooftops, glazing, and shading elements, enabling buildings to generate clean energy without additional land requirements.
Delivering the welcome address, Mr Sanjay Seth, Vice President and CEO of GRIHA Council and Senior Director of TERI’s Sustainable Infrastructure Programme, highlighted the growing importance of the building sector in India’s clean energy transition. He noted that global solar capacity had reached approximately 380GW by mid-2025, with India adding nearly 30GW between April and December 2025, indicating that technology maturity and cost competitiveness are no longer the primary barriers to solar adoption.
Seth observed that while BIPV deployment in Europe stood at around 315MWp in 2023—representing less than 1% of total solar capacity—the limitation is largely due to policy, procurement, and regulatory clarity rather than technological constraints. He added that India’s Integrated Energy Scenario (IESS) 2047 projects buildings to account for nearly 38% of total electricity demand, underscoring the need to treat building envelopes as critical energy-generating surfaces. Existing frameworks such as the Energy Conservation and Sustainable Building Code (ECSBC) 2024 and Eco Niwas Samhita already provide a regulatory foundation, but clearer approval and procurement mechanisms are required to scale BIPV adoption.
An online special address was delivered by Scientia Professor Deo Prasad AO FTSE, CEO of the NSW Decarbonisation Innovation Hub at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He shared global best practices and innovation trends from countries such as Australia and Singapore, highlighting the role of strong policy support, falling solar costs, and large-scale demonstration projects in accelerating clean energy adoption. He emphasised that incentives, net-zero building targets, and demand-side energy generation are critical to building resilient energy systems.
Addressing the role of standards, Ms Reena Garg, Deputy Director General (Standardization-I) at the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), stressed the importance of developing harmonised codes and benchmarks to mainstream BIPV in India’s construction sector. She noted that BIPV systems pose additional challenges related to structural safety, durability, and performance compared to conventional solar installations, requiring coordinated efforts across the building and energy domains. Garg added that BIS has constituted the ETD 28 Committee on ‘Solar PV Energy Systems’ to address these standardisation needs.
The stakeholder discussions focused on key enablers and barriers to large-scale BIPV deployment, including alignment with national building codes and municipal by-laws, integration with flagship schemes such as the PM Surya Ghar Yojana, financing and economic viability, lifecycle cost-benefit analysis, capacity building, and workforce skill development. A technology presentation on façade-integrated BIPV solutions was delivered by Mr Prateek Jain, Founder and CEO of FutrBuilds.
Participants included representatives from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), BIS, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), International Solar Alliance (ISA), National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Invest India, the World Bank, UNDP, GIZ, CSIR, academic institutions, industry associations, architects, material manufacturers, and clean energy companies.
The consultation aimed to develop actionable recommendations to integrate BIPV into India’s construction and urban planning frameworks, strengthen market readiness, promote material innovation, and address end-of-life and e-waste considerations. The outcomes are expected to support the development of smart, climate-responsive, and net-zero buildings across India.
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