Concentrated Photovoltaic Thermal Research Articles

Assessment of a novel multi-generation solar CPV/T system combining adsorption and organic rankine cycle subsystems

Renewable energy based multi-output hybrid systems have a great potential to augment the energy utilization efficiency. In this study, performance evaluation of a concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPV/T) system coupled with an integrated adsorption-Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) system is introduced in which different integration options to produce power, cooling, heating, and desalinated water are mathematically investigated and experimentally validated. The evaporator of the adsorption heat pump is coupled with the condenser of the ORC in order to lower the temperature at which heat is rejected in the ORC leading to higher ORC thermodynamic efficiency. CPV/T using a Fresnel concentrator and multi-junction solar cells with different homogenizer types is investigated to produce electricity and thermal energy at the highest possible temperature that can be used to drive the adsorption system (AD) and ORC. By using antireflective coating in the refractive homogenizer, the optical efficiency is increased to 87.5%. Results showed (i) maximum overall efficiency of 68.47% can be achieved at evaporation temperature of 15 °C in the AD system and (ii) the integrated system can provide electricity of 13.08 kW, potable water of 79.17L/day, cooling power of 2.06 kW or heating power of 0.8 kW using only 38.4 m2 of surface area.

Design and experimental study of a Fresnel lens-based concentrated photovoltaic thermal system integrated with nanofluid spectral splitter

Minimizing optical losses during light focusing and preparing an appropriate nanofluid for spectral splitting is crucial for the performance of a concentrated photovoltaic thermal system. A Fresnel lens-based solar concentrator integrated with a nanofluid spectral splitting photovoltaic thermal system was designed and validated in this study. The design posited solar irradiation being appropriately concentrated by a linear Fresnel lens on a series of tubes through which the nanofluid flowed, allowing a large beam of limited spectra to be transmitted to the PV below, with the rest absorbed and converted to thermal energy is introduced. The optical loss was minimized by increasing the surface area and decreasing the optical path length. The synthesized nanofluid's spectral transmittance was measured experimentally. Dynamic modeling energy balance equation for the concentrated solar energy conversion system was developed and computed by MATLAB programming. Since the photovoltaic module was decoupled from the filtering channel and integrated with the water cooling, its surface temperature was much lower than the nanofluid and output water temperature. The combined efficiency of the system was 50.35%, 65.2%, 72.70%, 74.7%, and 85% for ZnO nanofluids with volume concentration ratios of 0.00036%, 0.00089%, 0.0017%, 0.0036%, and 0.0089%, respectively. A nanofluid with a concentration ratio of 0.00089 vol% provides the closest spectral match with a silicon solar cell, as verified by a reasonable electrical and thermal efficiency. We used this as a representative concentration ratio of ZnO nanoparticles to validate the prototype. The maximum deviation between simulated and experimentally determined overall performance was less than 3.7% which shows the two results are in good agreement. The findings highlight the potentials of employing a low-cost ZnO nanofluid in a concentrated photovoltaic thermal system for full spectrum utilization.

45-nm CdS QDs photoluminescent filter for photovoltaic conversionefficiency recovery

Different energy loss mechanisms have restricted the breakthroughs in concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPVT) hybrid solar systems that use photoluminescent filters. Re?ected and transmitted light, emission spectrum, nonideal absorption, Stokes shift (proportional to $f_1 f_2$), overlapping absorption, and scattering of light are mechanisms in photoluminescent filters that restrict optical efficiency to below theoretical limits. In addition, increases in temperature by light concentration affect the operation of photovoltaic cells and photoluminescent filters because of an increase in molecular motion and collisions that consequently lead to energy loss. Meanwhile, nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs) from groups II VI hold electrical, optical, chemical, and physical properties that can be used to mitigate the aforementioned limitations. In this study, cadmium sulfide QDs with a diameter of 45 nm and absorption and photoluminescent spectra centered at 480 and 600 nm, respectively, were deposited in a soda-lima glass to obtain a 200-nm-thick film photoluminescent filter. The photoluminescent filter was matched to a silicon solar cell and used as an electrical power efficiency recovery filter in a hybrid CPVT solar system. A recovery of electrical power conversion efficiency higher than 3.1\% at temperatures greater than 100$^{\circ}$C was theoretically predicted and practically confirmed. A predicted trend of increases in recovered electrical power parameters as temperature increases was also verified.

Performance analysis and optimization of a trilateral organic Rankine powered by a concentrated photovoltaic thermal system

The growing demand for energy encourages the use of organic Rankine cycles powered by renewable energies. This work introduces the novel renewable system combining a high performance concentrated photovoltaic thermal and a trilateral organic Rankine cycle for power generation. The high performance concentrated photovoltaic thermal system is sized to meet the heat requirements of a trilateral organic Rankine cycle at high evaporation temperatures of the working organic fluid. Mathematical models are developed for different components of the combined system. The differences between current and previous work models did not exceed 3%. The results showed that the electric power generated by the combined system varied between 70 and 273 kW and the overall efficiency ranged from 29 to 38.55%. Effect of some parameters such as the incidence angle, the aperture area and the condensing temperature of the working organic fluid on the system efficiency are investigated. The results demonstrated that production performance decreased as the incidence angle and the condensing temperature of the working fluid increased. The results also showed that the levelized cost of electricity of the combined system ranged from 0.047 to 0.099U$/kWh. The overall results highlighted that the production performance of the renewable system was very high compared to other solar technologies presented in the literature review.

An innovative green multi-generation system centering around concentrating PVTs and biomass heaters, design and multi-objective optimization

This article introduces an innovative off-grid biomass/solar-based building cooling/power system equipped with concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) panels, a specific biomass heater design, an absorption chiller, and thermal energy storage tanks. The hourly variation of performance, economic, and environmental metrics is evaluated to investigate the proposed system's feasibility for a case study building in India. The effect of significant operational parameters on the system's performance is assessed by observing their influence on levelized cost of energy, biomass effectiveness, solar and biomass heat load ratios, and levelized carbon dioxide emission. The optimum design and operating conditions are ascertained through a genetic algorithm-based multi-objective optimization approach contemplating techno-economic-environmental facets to be satisfied simultaneously. According to the results, the highest monthly heat and electricity produced by the CPVT system are 521.8 kWh and 593.4 kWh in May. The results further reveal that sugarcane baggas is an excellent option compared to the most commonly used biomass in India because of the lowest price sensitivity. The parametric study results show that increasing the generator temperature leads to a favorable techno-environmental condition. Besides, the results reveal that the increase in solar panels is not economically suitable due to a higher levelized cost of energy. The optimization outcomes demonstrate that the optimum values of levelized cost of energy, biomass effectiveness, and levelized carbon dioxide emission are 58.1 USD/MWh, 3342.3 MWh, and 233.6 kg/MWh, respectively. Eventually, it can be observed that the chiller size and mass flow rate entering the CPVT panels are sensitive parameters and the optimum range of the generator temperature is between 91 °C and 95 °C.

Modeling of a novel nanofluid-based concentrated photovoltaic thermal system coupled with a heat pump cycle (CPVT-HP)

• A nanofluid-based CPVT system coupled with a domestic heat pump is proposed. • An acceptable agreement between CFD and optical analysis results and experimental data. • The effects of CPVT parameters on performance of the proposed system is studied. • The optimal nanofluid mass flow rate of 0.01382 kg/s is obtained. • A significant improvement in performance of the proposed CPVT-HP system is obtained. The concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) system is one of the heat and power generation systems that have received special attention in recent decades. In this paper, a novel CPVT system with Al 2 O 3 nanofluid flow into porous channel coupled with a domestic heat pump (CPVT-HP) is evaluated from energy, exergy and economics viewpoints. In addition, mass flow rate of the nanofluid through the CPVT is thermo-economically optimized. The study is divided into three parts of Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the CPVT, optical analysis of parabolic trough concentrator (PTC) and thermo-economic analysis of the proposed CPVT-HP system. The continuity, Brinkman momentum and energy equations are employed as governing equations for CFD analysis considering the average solar flux using optical calculations. Then, energy-exergy-economic optimization is performed on the proposed domestic CPVT-HP system in Mashhad city of Iran during November to February. The validation results show that the numerical simulation obtained for the proposed model has an acceptable agreement with the experimental data. Results show that with increasing the nanofluid mass flow rate, the PV cell temperature and nanofluid outlet temperature decease which lead to increases in PV cell efficiency and CPVT energy efficiency while the exergy efficiency of the CPVT system decreases. It is also found that the maximum performance of the porous channel collector is obtained for the pore diameter and the porosity of 0.9 mm and 95%, respectively. Finally, based on energy-exergy-economic analysis and Pareto method, the optimal nanofluid mass flow rate of the integrated CPVT-HP system is achieved equal to 0.01382 kg/s.

Assessment of Concentrated Photovoltaic Thermal (CPVT) Systems Using CFD Analysis

Assessment of Concentrated Photovoltaic Thermal (CPVT) Systems Using CFD Analysis

A sub-continuous lattice Boltzmann simulation for nanofluid cooling of concentrated photovoltaic thermal receivers

Nanofluid cooling of a concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) receiver was simulated by a sub-continuous lattice Boltzmann model with the effective thermal conductivity (ETC) and the effective viscosity (EV) nonlinearly related to both nanoparticle concentration and size. Al2O3-water nanofluid cooling efficiencies for various solar irradiance are compared with those of pure water cooling. Flow and temperature fields are simulated for nanofluids with the nanoparticle concentration from 1% to 10%, particle size less than 120 nm, and flow rate over a range of 0.17–3.34 L/min (i.e., the inlet velocity from 1/10 to 2 times of the natural convection velocity scale). In dimensionless form, the parameters are described by concentration, Knudsen number and Richardson number. The enhancement ratios of Nusselt numbers, drag coefficients, and power coefficients due to the application of nanofluids compared to water are presented. An objective enhancement function is defined as the ratio of the Nusselt number to the power coefficient. The maximum enhancement ratio is 1.14 for nanoparticle concentration at 8%, Knudsen number at 0.1 (Al2O3 nanoparticle size 6 nm), and Richardson number 10 (the inlet velocity about 1/3 of the natural convection velocity scale), respectively. This study provides a practical tool for optimal nanofluid cooling enhancement of CPVT solar receivers.

Electrical Efficiency Increase in CPVT Collectors by Spectral Splitting

Concentrating photovoltaic-thermal (CPVT) collectors have to face the challenge of contrary temperature requirements in the single receiver parts. The PV cells require low temperatures to achieve high efficiency, whereas the thermal part should generate high temperatures for providing industrial heat. The approach of “Spectral Splitting” can offer a solution for compact CPVT receivers; however, a clear quantification of the expected conversion efficiency is difficult. Therefore, this paper describes a modelling methodology for obtaining electrical and thermal performance parameters for a Spectral Splitting configuration using semiconductor-doped glass combined with appropriate heat transfer fluid. The PV technologies c-Si, CIGS and CdTe are considered. The presented model yields distinct results for maximising the electrical efficiency, calculates the reduction in waste heat dissipation within the cells and assesses the impacts of concentration factor and cell temperature. An optimised configuration could be found with CIGS cells, impinged by a selected wavelength spectrum between 868 nm and 1100 nm, where the theoretical efficiency reaches 42.9%. The waste heat dissipation within the cells is reduced by 84.9%, compared to a full-spectrum operation. The depicted CPVT receiver design using bendable thin-film PV cells will be realised as a prototype in a subsequent project phase.

Energy analysis of a combined solar wood drying system

This work proposes a hybrid solar dryer model combining a heat pump and a concentrated photovoltaic thermal using air as a cooling fluid for the solar cells. The proposed system will be able to simultaneously produce electricity and heat necessary to conduct the wood drying operations. Mathematical models are developed, verified and validated for the various components constituting the combined system. The discrepancy between measurement and theoretical results did not exceed 8%. The results showed that the combined system can reduce the drying time up to 18%, compared to the drying method using the heat pump alone. Effect of drying parameters on system performance was analyzed. The results demonstrated that the overall efficiency of the concentrated photovoltaic thermal system ranged from 34 and 52%. Compressor operating hours increased as mass flow rate increased. The electricity saving and the moisture extraction rate improved by 57 and 39% by increasing the regenerator efficiency from 25 to 75%, respectively. The proposed system could significantly reduce the power consumption of hybrid solar dryers and can compete effectively with solar models described in the literature.

Integrated optical-thermal-electrical modeling of compound parabolic concentrator based photovoltaic-thermal system

The main aim of this work is to propose an integrated optical, thermal and electrical model to obtain the overall performance of a concentrated photovoltaic-thermal system (CPV/T). Monte Carlo ray-tracing (MCRT) simulations are done to obtain the flux profile on the absorber of a compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) for various angles of incidence. The obtained heat flux is mapped onto the solar cell in the finite volume method (FVM) to obtain its temperature profile. The modelling is done for both glazed and unglazed compound parabolic concentrator-photovoltaic/thermal (CPC-PV/T) systems using uniform (average heat flux) and non-uniform heat flux distribution. The obtained numerical results are compared with experimental results available in the literature. The results show that the prediction is accurate, with a maximum deviation in solar cell temperature of less than 3%. The deviations obtained when using non-uniform heat flux are much less than when using average heat flux. The temperature contours show that the temperature profile of the photovoltaic module obtained by using local non-uniform heat flux is different from the temperature profile obtained by using average heat flux, and these results will have a greater impact when designing a cooling system.The absorbed radiation from the optical analysis and average cell temperature from the thermal analysis are given to the five parameter electrical model of a solar photovoltaic cell to obtain the electrical power output. With the results of the integrated optical-thermal and electrical model, the overall useful power from both glazed and unglazed CPC-PV/T systems is calculated. The results show that the performance of the unglazed CPC-PV/T system is superior to the glazed CPC-PV/T system in terms of electrical and overall system output. This work demonstrates the need for a local heat flux profile and a coupled multi-physics model to accurately predict the performance of a concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPV/T) system.

Optical design and validation of a solar concentrating photovoltaic-thermal (CPV-T) module for building louvers

This paper presents a solar concentrating photovoltaic-thermal (CPV-T) module for building louver which is designed to provide electricity and heat for buildings by capturing solar radiation in building vertical space. A specially designed concentrating blade used for louver is combined with a PV-T module. The concentrating blade enables incident sunlight converge to a solar cell, thus obtaining electricity. The heat generated in the solar cell is taken away and collected by thermal fluid, by which the deficiency of increasing extra cooling demand in summer existing in traditional building integrated photovoltaic is overcome. The concentrating blade is designed to work under the solar incident angle of 0–90°, and its high-efficiency photovoltaic-thermal working range is 20–70°. Optical simulations are conducted to illustrate the characteristics of the concentrating blade. Remarkably, the maximum geometrical concentration ratio is 2.96 at the incident angle of 20°. Over a wide range of incident angles between 12.5° and 52.5°, the geometrical concentration ratio maintains above 2. Finally, experiments are carried out to test the electrical and thermal performance of the CPV-T module. The results illustrate that its overall efficiency can reach above 55 % for nearly 5 h without tracking during the all-day experiment.

Levelized cost of energy of hybrid concentrating photovoltaic-thermal systems based on nanofluid spectral filtering

The field of concentrating photovoltaic-thermal (CPV-T) systems based on nanofluid spectral filtering has advanced significantly in the past decade. However, there is still a need to perform economic feasibility analyses for these systems. In this work, an assessment of the cost of implementation of CPV-T power plants using the spectral-splitting technique was performed. Three types of solar power plant were analyzed, including a purely thermal parabolic trough, a hybrid Si-based, and a hybrid GaAs-based power plant. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) algorithm included inputs obtained from random variables to obtain LCOE values and energy generation for each type of power plant as a probability distribution. The results show that a purely thermal parabolic trough system has a minimum LCOE of 13.29 ¢/kWh at a solar multiple of 1.75, while the hybrid Si and hybrid GaAs power plants had a minimum LCOE of 17.83 ¢/kWh at a solar multiple of 2.5, and 14.50 ¢/kWh at a solar multiple of 3. The results in this work demonstrate that spectral-splitting CPV-T power plants can achieve energy costs comparable to conventional parabolic power plants depending on the solar multiple, solar cell material, and technical and financial variables.

Optical performance of a hybrid compound parabolic concentrator and parabolic trough concentrator system for dual concentration

This work proposes a hybrid compound parabolic concentrator and parabolic trough concentrator (CPC/PTC) system for concentrator photovoltaic/thermal (CPV/T) and hybrid concentrator photovoltaic/thermal-thermoelectric generator (CPVT-TEG) applications. The geometrical design and optical analysis of the novel hybrid CPC/PTC system are discussed in the present study. Ray-tracing models were used to identify the different variables that influence the optical efficiency of both CPC and PTC. The concentration ratio (CR) of PTC in the hybrid CPC/PTC system is evaluated and compared with the standard PTC concentration ratio for various rim angles ranging from 15° to 75°. The results revealed that the loss in PTC concentration due to the CPC’s shadow on the hybrid CPC/PTC system is reduced when the aperture width of the PTC is increased. The maximum optical efficiency of the hybrid CPC/PTC system for 0° incident angle is ~ 73% which is ~ 6.35% higher than standard PTC. Finally, the proposed hybrid CPC/PTC system’s overall optical efficiency is evaluated under various tracking modes for equinox, summer solstice, and winter solstice. The results imply that the dual-axis tracking CPC/PTC system achieves a constant optical efficiency of ~ 70%.

Design and testing of concentrated photovoltaic arrays for retrofitting of solar thermal parabolic trough collectors

A new design and retrofit approach for a concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPV-T) system based on a parabolic trough collector is presented. The design differs from previous hybrid architectures, employing a significantly simplified topology in order to reduce costs while keeping electrical efficiency high. To achieve this ambitious goal, the absorber tube of a conventional parabolic trough collector used in thermal systems is replaced by a newly developed hybrid absorber equipped with multi-junction solar cells. This offers the advantage that existing solar thermal parabolic trough facilities can be easily retrofitted, making the system scalable and cost-effective. A scaled prototype of the system was designed and tested in Graz, Austria. During on-sun tests an average electrical system efficiency of 26.8% with a simultaneous thermal efficiency of 48.8% was measured using a geometric concentration ratio of 150 (DNI based). This leads to an overall average system efficiency of 75.5%. Moreover, a solar cell peak efficiency of 30% was achieved, one of the highest measured solar-to-DC efficiencies for a parabolic trough-based solar collector. Special attention was paid to the temperature difference between the solar cells and the heat transfer fluid in order to ensure sufficient cooling of the cells and maximize thermal efficiency. The electrical, thermal and overall efficiencies at different heat transfer fluid temperatures were measured (17°C - 90°C) and their coefficients were derived. This work serves as an experimental proof-of-concept for the application of solar cells in parabolic trough collectors, thereby opening up new possibilities for cost reduction of CPV-T systems.

A review of heat removal mechanism in concentrated PVT systems using beam splitter

The dependency on solar energy is increasing day by day, so the PVT (Photovoltaic Thermal systems) have been developed in which thermal energy is not dissipated but harnessed using various heat removal mechanisms. The enhancement of Spectral Beam Splitting technique gives a solution to the problem that full spectrum is not useful for PV. Spectral beam splitting can be implemented through thin film reflection/transmission, conventional fluids absorption/transmission, nanofluid absorption and solar-cells reflection. To review the ongoing research in all these technologies is the main objective of this research paper.

Energy and environmental performance of a grid-connected concentrating photovoltaic thermal system for residential buildings in Iran

This paper evaluates the performance of a concentrating photo-voltaic thermal (CPVT) hybrid system for space heating, providing hot water, and grid-connected (GC) electricity generation in the city of Isfahan, Iran. The GC-CPVT system is a ground-mounted 5.63 kWp rated power system oriented in a north-south direction to achieve the maximum power output. The annual and monthly modeling of the system is performed by Polysun® simulation software. The system specifications are described and the heating and electrical energy demand of the building are determined. The GC-CPVT performance simulation is then conducted based on the meteorological data of the location. The monthly simulation results of the GC-CPVT system in the studied location show that the yield factor varies from 138.8 to 183 kWh/kWp, the reference yield from 170.3 to 253.5 kWh/kWp, and the performance ratio from 70.3 to 82.2%. The maximum annual AC electricity generated is 10752 kWh. Furthermore, the CPVT system generates a considerable amount of heat. The annual solar fraction values for covering domestic hot water and space heating are achieved 78.3% and 35.3%, respectively. The monthly solar fraction covered by the CPVT system also varies from 32 to 100%. The environmental performance of the GC-CPVT system indicates that the contribution of such a system to CO2 emission reductions exceeds 8 tons of CO2 per year.

Influence of thermal and optical criteria of spectral fluid filters for hybrid concentrated photovoltaic/thermal systems

Recently, applying spectral beam splitting technologies into concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPV/T) systems have received unprecedented attention owing to their abilities to take full advantage of solar broadband. Such hybridized systems require liquid absorptive-filters capable of enhancing the combined conversion efficiency achievable by controlling their ‘thermal’ and ‘optical’ characteristics. Although numerous studies have strived to develop the optical performance of thermal fluids for peaking the spectral window of the PV, maximizing their heat-transfer capabilities have not gained widespread attention. Therefore, this study aims to fill the gap and provides the appropriate thermal-optical selective criteria of liquid spectral-filters under various solar concentrations (CRs) using a precisive 3D optical-thermal coupled numerical model. The results revealed that using liquid filters with high thermal conductivity (k) and heat capacity (Cp) jointly has the potential to improve the total solar energy conversion in all CRs. Whereas low k and Cp thermal fluids have the preference under low CRs and vice versa in high CRs from the exergy viewpoint. Besides, the presence of high thermal absorption filters above the undesired PV-wavebands promotes co-conversion efficiency cross all CRs, while the high permeability filters over the spectral window of PVs are recommended from the exergy viewpoint. Since several liquid filters can meet various user needs (whether it is thermal or electrical outputs), the ideality of optical characteristics of used fluid-filters primarily depends on the desired energy form, so researchers should carefully select the appropriate thermal fluid for the desired purpose.

Comparative investigation of concentrated photovoltaic thermal-thermoelectric with nanofluid cooling

Thermoelectric modules are capable of converting heat into electric energy via the Seebeck effect. Therefore the addition of the thermoelectric generator modules (TEG) between the PV module and the absorber plate inside a concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) solar collector can be a feasible way for to enhance their electrical generation. A comparison between the CPVT only system and CPVT system integrated with TEG (CPVT-TE) is conducted using numerical simulation. Therefore CPVT-TE with water and CPVT-TE with 0.5% graphene/water nanofluid is investigated. A transient study using the finite volume method is presented, and computation is performed for all the considered solar systems for a typical sunny day and cloudy day under London climatic conditions. The CPV and the outlet fluid temperatures, as well as, the energy and exergy calculations are carried out to assess the performance of all the considered solar systems.The results reveal that the improvements in the total electrical power generated by the CPVT-TE with 0.5% graphene/water nanofluid and CPVT-TE compared to CPVT collector are 11.15% and 9.77%, respectively for the summer day, while, that for the winter day is 5.14% and 4.58%, respectively. The reductions in the thermal power provided by the CPVT-TE with 0.5% graphene/water nanofluid and CPVT-TE compared to CPVT collector are 6% and 11.76%, for the summer day, while, that for the winter day are 4.86% and 10.53%, respectively. Moreover, the total exergies generated by 0.5% graphene/water nanofluid CPVT-TE and water CPVT-TE collectors increased by 4.88% and 0.68% respectively, for the summer day, while that for the winter day are 2.99% and 0.95% respectively, in comparison with the conventional CPVT system.

Using photovoltaic thermal technology to enhance biomethane generation via biogas upgrading in anaerobic digestion

Anaerobic Digestion (AD) is identified to be a promising method to address the dilemma of solid waste recycling, and biogas produced from AD has also been identified as an important alternative to fossil fuels, pertaining to energy crisis and climate change. As the applied technology of anaerobic digestion is fixed, required thermal energy for biogas production in an anaerobic digester varies dramatically with the ambient temperature. The conventional way is to combust the biogas on the spot for heat preservation in the digester, and the additional natural gas will be needed for supplement in colder area. To mitigate the consumption of fossil fuel and increase the amount of available biogas for bio-methane production, a hybrid system by integration of Concentrated PhotoVoltaic Thermal (CPVT) collectors and biogas upgrading technology is proposed. The heat produced from CPVT collectors is for heat preservation in the digester, and generated electric power is used in the biogas plant and biogas upgrading unit for bio-methane production. The annual performance analysis indicates that, comparing with the conventional design, the new design saves 2.6% amount of natural gas consumption, reduces 48.38% amount of electricity from power grid and increases 86.08% amount of biomethane production. Besides, the new design can supply 829.4 MWh electricity to the power grid in a year. This research provides a new way to utilize biogas by integration with solar utilization technologies.