Thermoelectric cooling for solar PV

Abstract

Solar PV power outputs decrease under high temperature. One method to reduce solar panel temperature is by incorporating a thermoelectric module (TEM) attached to the back of the solar panel. Most literature on this research have proven successful temperature reduction via simulation. Meanwhile, experimentally, studies have also shown positive temperature reduction but on smaller PV panels. In this research, the power outputs of PV are compared with and without thermoelectric cooling (TEC). Experimental analysis was performed and the results have shown that there is a 5.6% increase in power output of PV with TEC. However, the power consumption from the TEM itself was much higher than the increase in PV power output. Thus, it is not suitable to use TEC to cool large sized PV panels but may be feasible for smaller panels or with additional controller to reduce TEC power consumption.