Abstract
Photovoltaic (PV) power generation is one of the attractive choices for efficient utilization of solar energy. Considering that the efficiency and cost of PV cells cannot be significantly improved in near future, a relatively cheap concentrator to replace part of the expensive solar cells could be used. The photovoltaic thermal hybrid system (PV/T), combining active cooling with thermal electricity and providing both electricity and usable heat, can enhance the total efficiency of the system with reduced cell area. The effect of nonuniform light distribution and the heat dissipation on the performance of concentrating PV/T was discussed. Total utilization of solar light by spectral beam splitting technology was also introduced. In the last part, we proposed an integrated compound parabolic collector (CPC) plate with low precision solar tracking, ensuring effective collection of solar light with a significantly lowered cost. With the combination of beam splitting of solar spectrum, use of film solar cell, and active liquid cooling, efficient and full spectrum conversion of solar light to electricity and heat, in a low cost way, might be realized. The paper may offer a general guide to those who are interested in the development of low cost concentrating PV/T hybrid system.
Highlights
Solar energy is the richest renewable energy on Earth
Studies showed that the spectrum splitting photovoltaic thermal hybrid system (PV/T) hybrid system has several potential advantages over a PV-only system and it is especially suitable for working under high concentration conditions [45]
The common weaknesses of these collectors are their high cost required by sun tracking. These collectors cannot use the diffused solar light, which occupy a considerable part of the solar radiation and cover a large area of land
Summary
Solar energy is the richest renewable energy on Earth. It is pollutant-free, widely scattered, and inexhaustible. Two urgent problems need to be addressed in solar PV application, that is, the high cost of PV power generation and the relatively low photoelectric conversion efficiency. (1) The highly efficient and low-cost concentration technology should be developed. In this case, the unit area incident light intensity of the PV cell should be improved to reduce the cell area required for the given generated power. (2) When sunlight reaches the PV cell, incident photon energy should be converted into electric energy only. When the incident photon energy is more than the band gap of the semiconducting material, the extra energy cannot be converted into electric energy but into wasted heat, which severely affects the photoelectric conversion efficiency [3]. Experimental and theoretical researches on these two crucial issues have been conducted
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