Increasing efficiency of an electricity production system from solar energy with a method of reducing solar panel temperature

Abstract

Renewable energy sources have been of great interest to electricity producers in Thailand. There are many renewable energy sources usually used: wind power, hydropower, geothermal energy, bio energy and solar energy. Thailand is located near the equator, leading to high solar radiation all year. Hence, production of electricity from solar energy has become a more reasonable alternative than other resources in order to solve energy crisis. However, a solar energy system has a negative point, which is the high temperature of a solar panel, resulting in reduced efficiency of electricity production. Typically, Thailand has tropical monsoon climate, hence hot weather, especially during the hottest time of the year (from March to May), when temperature usually reaches up to 40 °C. In this paper, an experimental setup of a solar energy system integrated with a heat ventilation system is proposed. The experimental setup consists of a 258-watt solar panel, a charge controller, an inverter, a battery, a temperature controller and a cooling system. To decrease temperature of the solar panel, a cooling system of a vehicle is modified. Experimental results indicate that, at temperature of 35–38 °C, it can be noticed that the solar panel can generate voltage around 34 – 35 V; the temperature of the solar panel is around 50 – 55 °C. When the cooling system is activated, the solar panel temperature is significantly decreased from 50 – 55 °C to 25 – 35 °C. Hence, the solar panel can deliver voltage of around 43 – 45 V.