Performance Assessment of a Hybrid PV/T system during Winter Season under Sharjah Climate
Mena Maurice Farag, Fahad Ahmad, Abdul Hamid, Chaouki Ghenaï, Maâmar Bettayeb, Monadhel Alchadirchy
Abstract
The integration of solar energy in energy production has been steadily developing due to its abundant availability and sustainability. However, photovoltaic technology only converts approximately 20% of directed solar incidence into useful energy, and the rest is wasted in the form of heat. Recently, the drawback was tackled through the emergence of photovoltaic/thermal systems that capture both electrical and thermal energies. Through the utilization of a base fluid, excess heat is extracted from PV modules hence, improving electrical energy conversion and utilizing extracted heat for thermal applications. In this study, a performance assessment is conducted for an installed 2.88 kW hybrid PV/T system during the winter climate in Sharjah, UAE. The principal focus of this study is to assess the impact of front cooling of a PV module on electrical and thermal performance, through the utilization of water as a base fluid. Front cooling methodology improved PV module maximum power production by 9.76 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">%</sup> , as average power generated by cooled PV module accounted to 199.8W as compared to 182.1W for the reference module. Furthermore, the average difference in generated power was accounted for 17.7W per module and an estimated 159.3W increase for all modules because of cooling. Electrical efficiency per module further reached up to 13.47 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">%</sup> with top surface cooling as compared to 12.27% with no cooling. Inlet and outlet water temperature difference reached 2.3°C, this thermal energy can be stored for preheating applications.