Experimental performance of an ultra-low-cost solar photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) collector using aluminum minichannels and nonimaging optics

Bennett Widyolar, Lun Jiang, Jordyn Brinkley, Sai Kiran Hota, Jonathan Ferry, Gerardo Diaz and Roland Winston

Applied Energy, 2020, vol. 268, issue C, No S0306261920304062

Abstract: Electricity, space heating, and hot water are ubiquitous needs among modern buildings. Solar photovoltaic/thermal (PVT) technologies are well suited to provide all of these in a distributed and renewable manner, however, the high cost of current PVT technologies remains a major barrier to implementation as the technology competes for roof space with low cost standalone PV modules. In an effort to reduce costs, a new type of solar PVT collector has been developed which replaces the traditional packaging materials with a low cost nonimaging optic and replaces sheet-and-tube heat exchange materials with a low cost and thermally efficient aluminum minichannel. A 1.2 m2 aperture prototype built using silicon SunPower solar cells has demonstrated 57.4% thermal efficiency and 12.3% electric efficiency at ambient temperature and a maximum (stagnation) temperature around 80 °C. Extrapolating this performance shows the PVT collector will to generate 226 kW-hours (kWh) of electricity and 603 kWh of heat per square meter each year for a solar resource of 5.5 kWh/m2/day, and by doing so avoid 1280 kWh of natural gas consumption and 183.8 kg of CO2 emissions. Technical performance is comparable with commercial PVT systems today, but with a much lower estimated module cost of $81/m2 ($0.54/WDC). A side-by-side analysis indicates the PVT collector can be installed for 85% of the capital cost of side-by-side PV + T with only 70% of the required roof space.

Keywords: Solar; Photovoltaic; Thermal; Hybrid; PVT; Nonimaging; Minichannel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114894

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