Buildings are one of the biggest energy consumers in our world. The concept of zero energy building (ZEB) is an attractive approach in order to reduce the energy requirement of buildings leading to more sustainable cities. Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is one suitable technology for providing electricity to the buildings with a minimum impact. Traditionally, photovoltaics (PV) have been installed looking for maximum yearly energy production. In this work the feasibility of PV working in non-optimal orientations will be explored by using two experimental setups: a photovoltaic facade with a southwest orientation and an architectural model of a building with the facades in the cardinal points, covered with PV. The results show interesting features, considering yearly and hourly generation profiles. Although the annual energy production for the facades and the roof is between 50% and 76% of an optimum angle installation, the fa ades have a more stable production along the year: monthly production can vary by a factor 2 vs a variation of factor 4 for irradiance. Moreover, the hourly production profiles are displaced from noon so they can match the demand. With some current net metering proposals, non-optimal orientations could even be more economical than the maximum producing orientation. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.