A Review of Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) Technology for Residential Applications: Performance Indicators, Progress, and Opportunities

Sree Harsha Bandaru, Victor Becerra, Sourav Khanna, Jovana Radulovic, David Hutchinson and Rinat Khusainov
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Sree Harsha Bandaru: School of Energy and Electronic Engineering, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3DJ, UK
Victor Becerra: School of Energy and Electronic Engineering, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3DJ, UK
Sourav Khanna: School of Energy and Electronic Engineering, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3DJ, UK
Jovana Radulovic: School of Mechanical and Design Engineering, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3DJ, UK
David Hutchinson: Faculty of Technology, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3AH, UK
Rinat Khusainov: School of Computing, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3DJ, UK

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 13, 1-48

Abstract: Solar energy has been one of the accessible and affordable renewable energy technologies for the last few decades. Photovoltaics and solar thermal collectors are mature technologies to harness solar energy. However, the efficiency of photovoltaics decays at increased operating temperatures, and solar thermal collectors suffer from low exergy. Furthermore, along with several financial, structural, technical and socio-cultural barriers, the limited shadow-free space on building rooftops has significantly affected the adoption of solar energy. Thus, Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) collectors that combine the advantages of photovoltaic cells and solar thermal collector into a single system have been developed. This study gives an extensive review of different PVT systems for residential applications, their performance indicators, progress, limitations and research opportunities. The literature review indicated that PVT systems used air, water, bi-fluids, nanofluids, refrigerants and phase-change material as the cooling medium and are sometimes integrated with heat pumps and seasonal energy storage. The overall efficiency of a PVT system reached up to 81% depending upon the system design and environmental conditions, and there is generally a trade-off between thermal and electrical efficiency. The review also highlights future research prospects in areas such as materials for PVT collector design, long-term reliability experiments, multi-objective design optimisation, techno-exergo-economics and photovoltaic recycling.

Keywords: solar energy; photovoltaic thermal systems; PVT system classification; combined heat and power (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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