Crossing Multiple Solar Energy Gaps: A Dutch Case-study on Intermediation for Building-integrated Photovoltaics

Building-integrated solar needs more than a good product

Building-integrated photovoltaics, or BIPV, can turn roofs, façades and other parts of a building envelope into electricity-generating surfaces. Unlike panels added later, BIPV products also provide a building function such as weather protection, insulation, shading or architectural finish. Their visual quality gives them real potential, yet in the Netherlands BIPV remains a niche. In this study, we asked not whether the technology works, but how the people and organisations around it can help it move beyond promising pilots.

We examined BIPV through intermediation: the work of connecting people, knowledge, resources, expectations and decisions across an innovation system. Drawing on 26 in-depth interviews with Dutch BIPV stakeholders and research on innovation adoption, we followed the technology through awareness, persuasion, choice, implementation and confirmation. At each stage, potential users meet different obstacles: limited awareness, hard-to-find impartial information, construction-sector risk aversion, perceived high costs, uncertainty about guarantees and weak coordination between solar suppliers and building professionals.

An ecology of intermediaries

We found that no single organisation can close every gap. What is needed is an ecology of intermediaries: connected actors with complementary roles that change over time. Architects, engineers, installers, municipalities, industry associations, advisers, educators, suppliers, finance and insurance actors and user-oriented organisations can all bridge gaps, even when brokering is not their formal task. They can develop knowledge, build networks, facilitate projects, shape shared visions and help change institutional conditions.

This shifts attention away from the technology alone. A beautiful, high-performing solar façade will not spread widely if design teams lack confidence, clients cannot compare options, insurers see unacceptable risk or the supply chain cannot coordinate. Adoption becomes more likely when trusted advice arrives at the right moment and technical, financial, regulatory and architectural questions can be resolved together.

Our practical conclusion is that support should match both the stage of the decision and the level of the system where a problem occurs. Treating BIPV adoption as a collective process rather than an isolated purchase gives the Netherlands a clearer way to bridge the gaps between solar innovation, building practice and everyday decisions about future buildings.