Comprehensive performance analysis of a rural building integrated PV/T wall in hot summer and cold winter region

Abstract

The building-integrated PV/T technologies have garnered significant attention due to their considerable potential in low-carbon and zero-energy buildings. To gain deeper insights into the practical application of this technology, a comprehensive study was conducted on a rural building integrated with PV/T walls for demonstration purposes. A novel simulation approach, coupling the numerical models of the PV/T walls with the building energy software, was proposed and experimentally validated. Based on the validated simulation approach, this study investigated the comprehensive performance of the demo building and explored the optimal capacity of the energy storage system (ESS). The main findings are as follows: (1) The proposed simulation approach could accurately predict the energy behaviors of the multi-room building integrated PV/T wall. (2) The demo building with the optimized EES yielded 1355.32 kWh of clean electricity and 455.3 kWh of heat gain for water heating, while reducing cooling and heating loads by 5% and 12%, respectively. (3) The optimal azimuth for the building in the studied region was 45°, and the total energy benefits of the building decreased by 28.5% with an increase in dust density from 0 g/m2 to 10 g/m2.