The overheating of photovoltaic panels can result in decreased efficiency, potential long-term damage, and reduced energy production. This study proposes a passive cooling system with a new curled aluminum fin profile to mitigate these issues. The thermal response of solar panels with variations in the geometrical parameters of the new curled fin design was studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, where the best-curled fin design option was selected for its implementation. Experimental tests were conducted to determine the thermal-energy response in a PV panel with the new design, compared with a rectangular fin design and without a cooling system as a reference. An economic analysis was also conducted to quantify the payback time based on the energy cost and surplus production rate. The experimental results showed that the new proposed system reduces the panel temperature to 8 °C, knowing that the no-fins system increases the PV panel temperature to 16 °C above ambient. Additionally, the energy production was increased by 4 % with the proposed curled fins, and the payback time varied between 1.1 to 6.4 years, depending on the kWh energy cost per country.