Photovoltaic Collector Research Articles

Design optimization of staggered plates’ channel heated by radiation heat flux based on the convective heat transfer and fluid flow for hybrid Photovoltaic/Thermal system

Optimization of configuration parameters based on the steady state convective heat transfer coefficient and friction factor for air flow inside a parallel plate channel with staggered plates heated by a radiation heat flux for combined photovoltaic and air heater solar collector systems (PV/T) are carried out. Temperatures of the solid boundary elements of flow field were obtained through using the ray-tracing technique to obtain the net absorbed fractions of the radiation heat flux the solid boundary surface elements. The model temperature results values were validated with measured temperature data and a good agreement prevailed. The model is used to investigate the optimization of configuration parameters of a parallel-plate channel with staggered plates based on the convective heat transfer coefficient (j), and friction factor (f) corresponds to the maximum value of the ratio of j/(f/2) within the flow Reynolds number ranging from 650 to 2550. The results show that: the optimum spacing of each staggered plate relative to nearest channel wall is around one-third of the channel height while the optimum (one) staggered plate length is ranging from 1.58 to 1.75 times the channel hydraulic diameter.

Evaluating the environmental parameters affecting the performance of photovoltaic thermal system using nanofluid

PV/T is a hybrid system which combines photovoltaic cells and solar collector. It can produce renewable electricity and heat, simultaneously. The aim of the present work is to study the effects of two environmental parameters on the performance of system. Also, the performance of pure water and Al2O3-water nanofluid are compared. The conduction and convection heat transfer are considered by CFD method. The mass, momentum, and energy equations are solved using the ANSYS Fluent. The second order upwind is selected as an interpolation scheme and the pressure-based solver is used for this laminar model. The pressure-velocity coupling method is the SIMPLE. Also, the gradients of the solution variables are determined by the least square cell based. The effects of solar radiation and fluid inlet temperature on the performance are modeled. Increasing the solar radiation reduces electrical efficiency; then, the thermal efficiency becomes fixed after a first rise. Nevertheless, the thermal efficiency remains fixed; the electrical efficiency decreases with increasing the fluid inlet temperature. The findings indicate that the heat transfer coefficient and the efficiency of Al2O3-water nanofluid are greater than pure water. The numerical model is validated by comparing the simulation results with the experimental data in the literature.

A detailed thermal-electrical model of three photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) hybrid air collectors and photovoltaic (PV) module: Comparative study under Algiers climatic conditions

The thermal photovoltaic hybrid collector is a genuine cogeneration technology; it can produce electricity and heat simultaneously. In this paper, a comparative study is presented between four solar device configurations: photovoltaic module (PV-I), conventional hybrid solar air collector (PV/T-II), glazed hybrid solar air collector (PV/T-III) and glazed double-pass hybrid solar air collector (PV/T-IV). A numerical model is developed and validated through experimental results indicated in the previous literature. The numerical model takes the heat balance equations and different thermal and electrical parameters into account for each configuration included in this study, the energy performances are evaluated with a sample weather data of Algiers site. The numerical results show that the daily average of overall energy efficiency reaches: 29.63%, 51.02%, 69.47% and 74% for the first (PV-I), the second (PV/T-II), the third (PV/T-III) and the fourth (PV/T-IV) configurations respectively. These values are obtained with an air flow of 0.023kg/s and introducing a sample of experimental weather data collected in Algiers site for a sunny day in summer.

View Factors to Grounds of Photovoltaic Collectors

Ground reflected radiation is one component of the global radiation on photovoltaic collectors in a solar field. This component depends on the view factor of the collector to ground, hence depends on the relative position of the collectors to each other. General analytical expressions and numerical values for the view factor to the ground were developed between flat-plate collectors positioned in a general configuration. Based on the general expression, the view factors to ground for particular collector configurations were derived. For deployment of photovoltaic collectors in multiple rows with common inclination angles, the view factor to ground is rather small, and hence, the reflected radiation from the ground on the collectors may be neglected compared to the direct beam and the diffuse components. However, in some cases the reflected radiation from the ground may constitute an appreciable amount as in snowy area. Bifacial photovoltaic (PV) panels can absorb solar radiation by both the front and the rear sides and are usually deployed vertically. In this case the reflected radiation from the ground on the panels may be appreciable depending on the ground albedo. The mathematical expressions of the different view factors may be used by the solar field designer to estimate the amount of reflected radiation from the ground reaching the collectors for different configurations of solar PV plants.

Life cycle production and costs of a residential solar hot water and grid-connected photovoltaic system in humid subtropical Texas

Hot and humid climates with high solar radiation have the potential to offset residential building energy consumption with the application of solar hot water and photovoltaic electricity generation. However, costs, lack of incentives for the systems, and the need for proof-of-concepts continue to limit market penetration. The surplus of natural gas in certain areas of the United States, particularly Texas, continues to keep gas and electricity production economical compared to solar alternatives. However, trends that demand lower energy homes, a desire for local energy independence, and the lowering of carbon dioxide emissions continue to fuel solar energy systems penetration. To support solar use, this research was performed to evaluate and analyze the real-world life cycle energy and costs of a solar photovoltaic and solar hot water system (SHWS) installed on a high-end residential home in Houston, TX (IECC Zone 2). The house was a well-insulated, large urban home with two renewable energy systems installed: a 3.5 kW solar photovoltaic system (SPVS) and a 1.71 kW solar hot water system. Analyses were part of a larger study performed to investigate the contributions of the solar energy offsets on the operational energy of the building over a life cycle period of 30-years. Field measurements of energy production were compared to solar energy simulations based on the typical meteorological year and the National Solar Radiation Database (NSRDB) data. NSRDB provided the basis for a probabilistic interpretation of annual energy production in terms of probability measures, P50/P90. It was found that field estimates were within simulation uncertainties and P90 predictions were within 2.5% of TMY3 (typical meteorological year data 3) results for both the solar photovoltaic system (SPVS) and solar hot water system (SHWS). Additionally, optimizations in the system design and life cycle costs were investigated to determine the annual optimal performance for the solar energy systems. The SHWS was installed at a less than optimum azimuth of 270° instead of 180° (corresponding to a 16% reduction in annual output). The SPVS was installed at optimal design conditions of 180° azimuth and 42° tilt. Payback and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) could have been minimized with the addition of another solar hot water collector with a minimal impact to overall cost. Cost sensitivity analysis on the LCOE and net-present value (NPV) were also performed and over a 30-year life cycle period, TMY3 based simulations predicted a NPV of $796 (21.8-year non-discounted payback) and -$1246 (29.2-year non-discounted payback) for the SHWS and SPVS, respectively. The SHWS achieved a LCOE of 8.1 ¢/kWh, while the value for the SPVS was 12.29 ¢/kWh. For the SPVS, the photovoltaic module and collector costs were the largest life cycle costs, and of special note, a reduction in the module cost by 67% reduces the LCOE to the market average-high electricity price of 10 ¢/kWh. Finally, the combined renewable energy systems generated an estimated 30-year life-cycle energy production of 184 814 kWh, with auxiliary gas provided for supplemental hot-water heating. On average, a Texas residential home utilizes 420 000 kWh of electrical energy, 19% of which is domestic hot water demand.

Effect of energy matrices on life cycle cost analysis of partially covered photovoltaic compound parabolic concentrator collector active solar distillation system

This paper presents the life cycle cost analysis of partially covered photovoltaic thermal (PVT) compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) collector integrated solar distillation system known as PVT-CPC active solar distillation system by incorporating the effect of energy payback period. The thermal model of the system has been developed. The number of PVT-CPC collectors and mass flow rate has been optimized. The annual yield, EPF and LCCE have been found to be higher by 5%, 12.73% and 22.22% respectively for double slope than single slope PVT-CPC active solar distillation system at 0.14m depth of water. However, production cost of water at 5% rate of interest and EPBT have been found to be lower by 10.09% and 17.98% respectively for double slope PVT-CPC active solar distillation system. It is inferred that double slope performs better than single slope PVT-CPC active solar distillation system based on annual yield if depth of water is less than 0.19m and vice-versa. The proposed system is self sustainable and it can meet the daily requirement of potable water on commercial level as well as DC electrical power during sunshine hours.

Design, Simulation and Experimental Investigation of a Solar System Based on PV Panels and PVT Collectors

This paper presents numerical and experimental analyses aimed at evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of photovoltaic/thermal (PVT) collectors. An experimental setup was purposely designed and constructed in order to compare the electrical performance of a PVT solar field with the one achieved by an identical solar field consisting of conventional photovoltaic (PV) panels. The experimental analysis also aims at evaluating the potential advantages of PVT vs. PV in terms of enhancement of electrical efficiency and thermal energy production. The installed experimental set-up includes four flat polycrystalline silicon PV panels and four flat unglazed polycrystalline silicon PVT collectors. The total electrical power and area of the solar field are 2 kWe and 13 m2, respectively. The experimental set-up is currently installed at the company AV Project Ltd., located in Avellino (Italy). This study also analyzes the system from a numerical point of view, including a thermo-economic dynamic simulation model for the design and the assessment of energy performance and economic profitability of the solar systems consisting of glazed PVT and PV collectors. The experimental setup was modelled and partly simulated in TRNSYS environment. The simulation model was useful to analyze efficiencies and temperatures reached by such solar technologies, by taking into account the reference technology of PVTs (consisting of glazed collectors) as well as to compare the numerical data obtained by dynamic simulations with the gathered experimental results for the PV technology. The numerical analysis shows that the PVT global efficiency is about 26%. Conversely, from the experimental point of view, the average thermal efficiency of PVT collectors is around 13% and the electrical efficiencies of both technologies are almost coincident and equal to 15%.

Performance Evaluation of a Helical Coil Heat Exchanger Working under Supercritical Conditions in a Solar Organic Rankine Cycle Installation

Worldwide interest in low grade heat valorization using organic Rankine cycle (ORC) technologies has increased significantly. A new small-scale ORC with a net capacity of 3 kW was efficiently integrated with a concentrated solar power technology for electricity generation. The excess heat source from Photovoltaic (PV) collectors with a maximum temperature of 100 °C was utilized through a supercritical heat exchanger that uses R-404A as working medium. By ensuring supercritical heat transfer leads to a better thermal match in the heat exchanger and improved overall cycle efficiency. A helical coil heat exchanger was designed by using heat transfer correlations from the literature. These heat transfer correlations were derived for different conditions than ORCs and their estimated uncertainty is ~20%. In order to account for the heat transfer correlation uncertainties this component was oversized by 20%. Next, a prototype was built and installed in an integrated concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPV/T)/Rankine system. The results from the measurements show that for better estimation of the sizing of the heat exchanger a more accurate correlation is required in order to design an optimal configuration and thus employ cheaper components.

Effect of New Ellipse Design on the Performance Enhancement of PV/T Collector: CDF Approach

Photovoltaic and thermal collectors are combined via a photo­voltaic/thermal (PV/T) collector system to increase collector efficiency. The efficiency of photovoltaic collectors is known to decrease when ambient temperature increases and vice versa. PV/T collector systems function by absorbing the heat gained from the sun via photovoltaic panels and by converting this heat into electrical energy. Simulations CFD have been investigated to explore the impact of different mass flow rates against photovoltaic and thermal efficiencies of PVT collector using FVM. New ellipse design of collectors have been modeled and investigated to generate hot water and electricity. In this simulation, the absorber collectors were assumed to be attached underneath the photovoltaic (PV) module, and water is used as a heat transfer medium in absorber collectors. The results shown that new ellipse absorber collector generates a combined PV/T efficiency of 74.3% with electrical efficiency of 13.78%. The efficiency of the PV/T system should be improved further by developed the surfaces between the absorber and solar panel (PV module). However, different types of PV cells, such as amorphous silicon cells with black mat surface properties, should be used to improve the thermal absorption of PV/T systems. Highlights: (i) A three-dimension hybrid photovoltaic/thermal solar collector module was performed in CFD software; (ii) The results agree with those obtained through steady-state characterization; (iii) The simultaneous use of new ellipse design of absorber, which absorbs much more thermal energy compared to other normal designs, increase thermal and electrical efficiency significantly.

Configuration Optimization with Operation Strategy of Solar-assisted Building Cooling Heating and Power System to Minimize Energy Consumption

This work designs a novel hybrid building cooling heating and power (BCHP) system incorporating with solar energy and natural gas. A basic natural gas BCHP system containing power generation unit, heat recovery system, hybrid cooling system and storage tank is integrated with solar photovoltaic (PV) and/or thermal collector. Optimization methodology with genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to optimize the configuration of the solar-assisted BCHP system for minimizing primary energy consumption. BCHP schemes are optimized in following electrical load (FEL) and following thermal load (FTL) operation strategies respectively. The result indicates that BCHP system in the FEL mode consumes less energy consumption than in the FTL mode to meet building demands. But the FTL mode would be superior to FEL mode at taking the surplus products from the hybrid BCHP system into consideration.

Performance analysis of thermosyphon hybrid photovoltaic thermal collector

The conversion of solar irradiance into electricity by a photovoltaic module (PV) is 6– 7% of the incoming energy from the sun depending on the type of technology and the environmental parameters. More than 80% of incoming energy from the sun is reflected or absorbed by the solar module. The fraction of energy absorbed increases with solar cell temperature and the cells’ efficiency drops as a consequence. The efficiency of a PV module is improved by combining a PV module and a thermal collector in one unit, resulting in a hybrid photovoltaic and thermal collector (PV/T). The purpose of this paper is to present the behavior a thermosyphon hybrid PV/T when exposed to variations of environmental parameters and to demonstrate the advantage of cooling photovoltaic modules with water using a rectangular channel profile for the thermal collector. A single glazed flat-box absorber PV/T module was designed, its behavior for different environmental parameters tested, the numerical model developed, and the simulation for particular days for Durban weather run. The simulation result showed that the overall efficiency of the PV/T module was 38.7% against 14.6% for a standard PV module while the water temperature in the storage tank reached 37.1 °C. This is a great encouragement to the marketing of the PV/T technology in South Africa particularly during summer, and specifically in areas where the average annual solar irradiance is more than 4.70 kWh/m²/day.

BIPVT systems for residential applications: An energy and economic analysis for European climates

This paper analyses the energy and economic performance of roof and/or façades Building Integrated flat-plate PhotoVoltaic and Thermal (BIPVT) collectors for residential applications. Aim of the analysis is to assess the active and passive effects due to the building integration of solar technologies on the building energy consumptions. In particular, a comparison among innovative building-plant system configurations, based on BIPVT collectors for the simultaneous production of electricity, thermal energy, and domestic hot water, is carried out. The simulation models of the proposed system layouts are designed and implemented in TRNSYS simulation environment for the dynamic assessment of their energy and economic performance. By means of the developed simulation model, the occurring summer and winter building passive energy effects due to the PVT building integration are also analysed.Several case studies are developed by modelling a representative multi-storey residential building and by taking into account different European climates. For such case studies a suitable energy parametric analysis is performed by varying the thermal resistances and capacitances of the building envelope. By the simulation results interesting design and economic feasibility guidelines are obtained. In particular, by varying the weather location and the building-plant configuration, the adoption of BIPVT panels produces a decrease of the primary energy demands from 67% to 89%. The passive effects of the BIPVT system in both the winter and summer season are also assessed for all the investigated climate zones. The calculated economic profitability resulted slightly better for roof BIPVT panels than for roof and façade applications. For the investigated case studies, the pay back periods appear quite long, varying from 11years for South European weather zones to 20 for North European ones.

View factors of photovoltaic collectors on Roof Tops

The diffuse radiation is an important component of the global radiation affecting the output of photovoltaic (PV) collectors. This radiation depends on the view factor between the collector and sky. A simple expression for the view factor for single inclined collectors on a horizontal plane is known. However, for a photovoltaic solar field with multiple rows deployed on a horizontal or on inclined planes, the view factor is more complicated to calculate, because a collector row may obscure part of the sky for the adjacent row. More complication is added for collectors deployed on saw-tooth roofs. The present study deals with the calculation of view factors to sky for collectors deployed in multiple rows and in the presence of obscuring structures on roof tops. General and particular mathematical expressions for view factors to sky were developed for PV collectors deployed on grounds or on roof tops to determine the diffuse incident solar radiation on PV collectors, and numerical values of view factors were presented. The view factor to sky depends significantly on the inclination angle of the collector. For common deployment of collectors in multiple rows on horizontal planes, the view to sky is in the range between 0.8 and 0.9 for 30° inclination angle, whereas for 50° inclination angle, the range is between 0.6 and 0.7. The effect of the distance between collectors on the view factor is less pronounced. A wall or a fence in front of the collector may decrease significantly the view factor to sky; an increase of 1.0 to 3.0 m decreases the view to sky from 0.8 to 0.6 for 30° inclination, and from 0.7 to 0.4 for 50° inclination. The view factor to sky of vertical collectors is less than 0.5.

Optimization of a polygeneration system for energy demands of a livestock farm

A polygeneration system is an energy system capable of providing multiple utility outputs to meet local demands by application of process integration. This paper addresses the problem of pinpointing the optimal polygeneration energy supply system for the local energy demands of a livestock farm in terms of optimal system configuration and optimal system capacity. The optimization problem is presented and solved for a case study of a pig farm in the paper. Energy demands of the farm, as well as the super-structure of the polygeneration system were modelled using TRNSYS software. Based on the locally available resources, the following polygeneration modules were chosen for the case study analysis: a biogas fired internal combustion engine co-generation module, a gas boiler, a chiller, a ground water source heat pump, solar thermal collectors, photovoltaic collectors, and heat and cold storage. Capacities of the polygeneration modules were used as optimization variables for the TRNSYS-GenOpt optimization, whereas net present value, system primary energy consumption, and CO2 emissions were used as goal functions for optimization. A hybrid system composed of biogas fired internal combustion engine based co-generation system, adsorption chiller solar thermal and photovoltaic collectors, and heat storage is found to be the best option. Optimal heating capacity of the biogas co-generation and adsorption units was found equal to the design loads, whereas the optimal surface of the solar thermal array is equal to the south office roof area, and the optimal surface of the PV array corresponds to the south facing animal housing building rooftop area.

Upper-limit solar photovoltaic power generation: Estimates for 2-axis tracking collectors in Nigeria

Energy generation by solar PV (photovoltaic) systems can be improved by incorporating tracking mechanisms, with the highest improvements resulting from 2-axis tracking. Peak energy generation levels (from PV collectors with 2-axis tracking) have been determined in this study, for locations in Nigeria. The spatial domain of interest was discretized into a grid of 1° latitude by 1° longitude cells. For each cell, monthly average daily irradiation on horizontal surfaces and ambient temperatures were obtained from the web-based NASA meteorological data service. With these, irradiation on tilted surfaces, system performance ratios, rp, seasonal and annual energy generation potentials, E/Pk, and improvements in energy generation potentials, ΔE/Pk, were determined. An approach for estimating rp is suggested, which accounts for effects of varying temperature and insolation levels on performance. rp values obtained by this approach are conservative relative to the fixed value of 0.75 which is presently in common use. The highest seasonal E/Pk (446–648 kWh/kWp) and ΔE/Pk (32%–62%) occur in the December-January-February season, and the least (249–590 kWh/kWp and 10%–26%, respectively) in the June-July-August season. E/Pk generally increased with latitudes. The additional E/Pk obtained with tracking (20%–40% annually) could offset additional costs due to tracking.

Modelling of a hybrid photovoltaic thermal collector based on CdTe

A few years ago, silicon photovoltaic panels had yields of 10 to 18%, which made them interesting because is not profitable enough (too expensive to energy conversion yield too low).But recently, thin film technology appears to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost. For application in hybrid collectors, various types of solar photovoltaic hybrid collectors (PVT) based on new materials for solar cells have been developed as the binary semiconductor, ternary and quaternary materials and organic. CdTe is a the most appropriate binary materials for use in photovoltaic structures in thin layers, this material can produce a high yield of about 15% and is also known by a direct band structure gap of a value of 1.45 eV and a very high absorption coefficient (>105 cm–1 in the visible). In this work we present the modeling of a hybrid photovoltaic thermal collector based on the thin films solar cells of CdTe, and then we made the determination of the temperature levels of the various layers through the development of the energy balance sheet involves heat exchange between the different components of the collector and to study its electrical and thermal performance, and finally compare their efficiency with it of the PVT collector based on monocrystalline silicon.

Modeling and performance optimization of photovoltaic and thermal collector hybrid system

In this paper, the hybrid photovoltaic/thermal collector (PV/T) system's electrical and thermal efficiency was examined by stating a mathematical model and developing a prototype of the system. To enhance the electrical efficiency, the cell temperature of the PV module was decreased with cooling and the heated fluid could be used for low heating applications. For this purpose, a PV/T system was modeled and constructed using a thermal collector placed beneath the photovoltaic panel where the excess heat and solar radiation through the transparent PV module was the input of the thermal collector. A transparent solar module was used in order to improve the total efficiency of the hybrid PV/T system by means of increasing the radiant solar energy reaching the absorber plate of the collector. The absorber plate was coated with titanium dioxide as the absorption level of the coating was higher than 95%, which increases the thermal output by 10%. We note that using TINOX coating for the absorber plate and transparent solar module had the advantage of increasing the thermal yield of the hybrid system. The influences of the dynamic parameters on the system performance, wind speed and water flow rate, were examined on a daily basis and it was observed that the wind speed had a minor effect on the performance and that forced circulation improved the thermal efficiency. The PV/T hybrid system was compared with the separate PV module and thermal collector efficiencies and the results are presented. With these improvements, the efficiency of the single cover, water type PV/T hybrid system is increased to the maximum reported value in literature.

Exergy Analysis of the Solar Blind System integrated with a Commercial Solar Greenhouse

The commercial greenhouse known as the most energy demanding cultivation methods and the energy conservation solution such as solar blind system is essential to be considered for the commercial greenhouses due to the sustainability. The solar blind system is consisted a series of thermal photovoltaic collectors which can rotate around the horizontal axis in order to make shading effect on the greenhouse and act as the solar curtain. In the conventional greenhouse, the solar curtain is utilized regularly to reduce the greenhouse indoor temperature by blocking the incoming solar radiation and it also prevent the sky night heat losses. Then by considering the solar blind system, not only the greenhouse cooling load can be decreased considerably, but also it can cover a part of electrical and heating demand of the greenhouse. Therefore, more energy can be conserved through the greenhouse by considering the solar blind system that leads to higher system exergy efficiency. In order to conduct the exergy analysis a solar blind integrated greenhouse is modeled which is validated using measured data a case study greenhouse in Shiraz, a southern city in Iran. The results show that by integrating the solar blind system in the commercial greenhouse the annual exergy efficiency can be increased from 0.2% to 4%. However, the maximum possible hourly exergy efficiency can be increased from 36% to 69%.

Potential of Solar ORC and PV Systems to Provide Electricity under Romanian Climatic Conditions

The study presents a mathematical investigation on the potential to provide electricity of different solar Organic Rankine Cycle systems and of a photovoltaic system. As input data for all the systems, were considered multiannual climatic data for Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The solar field was considered in three configurations based on flat collectors, on evacuated tubes collectors and on parabolic trough collectors. The Organic Rankine Cycle was modelled for three working fluids considering the thermal regime typical for each type of solar collectors. It was found that the maximum electric power for the solar thermal systems was situated in the range of (58.57 … 86.57) W/m2 of solar collector and for the photovoltaic system was of 103.06W/m2 of photovoltaic collector. The maximum global efficiencies of the investigated solar thermal systems was situated in the range of (6.73 … 10.23)% while for the photovoltaic system was of 10.81%. Between the solar thermal systems, the most efficient proved to be the one based on evacuated tubes collectors. Additionally it was investigated an existing solar thermal system based on heat pipes solar collectors, located in the vicinity of Timişoara, Romania which left without consumers and in need to be converted into an electrical system.

Process intensification and integration of solar heat generation in the Chinese condiment sector – A case study of a medium sized Beijing based factory

Over the last decade, energy prices in China have risen dramatically. At the same time, extensive use of coal fired energy provision systems in industry has led to serious environmental and economic problems translating to an economic damage of an estimated 10% of the Gross Domestic Product. This has led to increasing awareness in the process industries of the need to save energy whilst replacing conventional energy sources with renewable ones.An energy audit was conducted for a soy sauce production facility in Beijing, which aimed to reduce its thermal energy demand through process intensification and to integrate renewable energy. Their current supply of thermal energy came directly from a district steam network, which was both directly consumed and downgraded via heat exchangers. It was determined that the best two solar integration locations would be in the pre-heating/mixing of raw ingredients to 60°C and the subsequent direct steaming of the mixture to 120°C.Three different systems for supplementing steam were investigated: (1) a traditional solar thermal heating system; (2) a system consisting of mono crystalline photovoltaic panels coupled with either a resistance heater or electric steam generator; and (3) a cascading system consisting of two types of solar thermal collectors, photovoltaic panels, and an electric steam generator. Comparisons of systems 1 and 2 were made for the heating of mixing water, and systems 1, 2, and 3 for saturated steam generation.Results showed that for the heating of process water, flat plate solar collectors performed best with an estimated 20year Levelised Cost of Energy of 0.063€/kWh. Steam generation was most cost effective with a cascade system of photovoltaic and flat plate collectors, with an estimated 20year Levelised Cost of Energy of 0.145€/kWh. The model predicts that integration of this technology would lead to a reduction of 14% in heating utility demand.