Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) has enormous potential for on-site renewable energy generation in urban environments. However, BIPV systems are still in a relatively nascent stage with few commercial installations. Therefore, applied evaluation of small or medium-scale outdoor testbeds is critical to better understand the performance, reliability and operational issues associated with BIPV systems. This in turn helps early BIPV adopters. Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) has enormous potential for on-site renewable energy generation in urban environments. However, BIPV systems are still in a relatively nascent stage with few commercial installations. Therefore, applied evaluation of small or medium-scale outdoor testbeds is critical to better understand the performance, reliability and operational issues associated with BIPV systems. This in turn helps early BIPV adopters in obtaining benchmark values and making more informed decisions during the system planning phase itself. On this viewpoint, this article provides a comprehensive overview on the global BIPV market, products, technologies, and applications. Also, given the importance of real-world testing and data analytics, this work conducts an in-depth analysis of 35 different BIPV outdoor test systems and its test results reported in literature. The assessment is carried out in two steps: (i) description of the testbed systems using various electrical, environmental, and physical factors that are monitored and reported; and (ii) evaluation of the testbed results with a focus on the quantitative electrical performance and economic parameters. A set of critical performance parameters has been defined, compiled, and quantitatively analyzed in this manuscript for the comparative study on various BIPV testbeds: 1) test duration, 2) specific energy yield, 3) energy efficiency, 4) system type, 5) module interconnection, 6) inverter efficiency, 7) performance ratio, 8) payback period. ••A review on various outdoor BIPV testbeds is presented.••Innovations in BIPV technologies, and its global market outlook are summarized.••Performance assessment of 36 real-world BIPV test systems has been conducted.••Majority of the systems are found underperforming based on specific yield benchmark.••Photovoltaic (PV)BIPV Performance assessmentLow carbon technologiesRenewable energyEnergy transitionSolar façadesRenewable energy generation is receiving tremendous global attention to address the issue of climate change and other driving factors such as consistent depletion of conventional energy resources, environmental pollution, intensified power consumption and the need for sustainable rural electrification. Among various renewable energy sources, solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation is expedient owing to abundant solar irradiance availability, prolific improvement in cell power conversion efficiency, and low maintenance cost. Consequently, the global renewable energy capacity attributing to PV power generation has reached 627 GWp according to the International Energy Association (IEA) statistics – 2020. Nevertheless, the space requirement for large scale solar parks, and land acquisition constraints descend the growth of PV installations to a great extent, particularly in urban areas. Fortunately, in this context, being versatile form other solar power conversion approaches, building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technology is an innovative and alternate solution that allows to utilize large roof and façade areas of buildings for PV deployment.In addition to BIPV, photovoltaics in buildings is also associated with building attached photovoltaic (BAPV) systems. While both represent active surfaces, BIPV refers to the integration of photovoltaics to buildings as ancillary substitute to envelopes, whereas BAPV refers to a traditional approach of fitting PV mod. Over the years, the BIPV sector has witnessed various research developments that have subsequently transformed to new technologies and products. To summarize such technological advancements in brief, various commercial classifications of BIPV products are studied. In general, BIPV technologies can be classified into three main categories based on:.