Optimization of the Assessment Method for Photovoltaic Module Enhancers: A Cost-Efficient Economic Approach Developed through Modified Area and Cost Factor

Abstract

The advancement of photovoltaic module (PV) enhancer technology shows significant promise due to its rapid growth. Nevertheless, there remains a requirement for ongoing research to refine the evaluation techniques for this technology. In a prior investigation, the concept of the area and cost-effectiveness factor, denoted as FCAE, was introduced to analyze the economic impact of enhancing the PV through techniques such as reflectors or coolers. This metric relates the surface area and manufacturing expenses of a PV enhancer to its capacity for improving the PV output power, aiding in the comparison of different enhancer types. However, this assessment approach is costly, requiring a set of PVs without enhancers to be compared with an equal number of modules fitted with enhancers. This paper introduces a modified version of this metric, termed the modified area and cost-effectiveness factor (FMCAE), along with its minimum value (FMCAE,min), with the aim of reducing the assessment expenses associated with PV enhancers. This modification hinges on knowing the output power from a single solar cell without an enhancer, as well as from a PV with an enhancer containing a known number of solar cells. Additionally, it relies on data regarding the manufacturing cost of the PV enhancer, the cost of one watt of PV power, and the combined surface area of the PV and its enhancer. The equations for computing the total number of solar cells and the associated costs in addition to the expenses cost are also proposed for FCAE and FMCAE. The results of the present study using FMCAE show that there is a proportional relationship between the percentage of solar cell saving and the number of solar cells. As the solar cells increase, the percentage of solar sell saving increases. The findings reveal that utilizing FMCAE leads to a 48.33% increase in the proportion of solar cells saved compared to the existing method. It can be concluded that the proposed method is cost-efficient and holds promise for adoption by PV enhancer designers and manufacturers.