Photovoltaic applications are implemented on a large scale in buildings, with a view to reducing global warming sustainably, as well as to meet energy demand. Thousands of electricity generators have been installed in this process around the world. However, very few countries have technical regulations that enable the energy efficiency and yield to be optimised in building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). On the other hand, all these normative should be a result of a serious study of the solar resource available in each region. This paper proposes a methodology to establish technical standards in order to limit the losses due to shading and orientation of the constructed surface areas, where any country could be taken as benchmark. Colombia is also taken as a case study, by performing a comparative analysis for different cities. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.