engleski

Photovoltaic technologies and thermal management of silicon based photovoltaic panels

The majority of market available photovoltaic (PV) technologies are silicon based PV technologies with a current market share more than 90%. Besides a relatively high investment cost and modest overall energy conversion efficiency, one of the main drawbacks related to siliceous based PV technologies is associated with performance degradation caused by the elevated PV panel operating temperatures during their regular operation. Elevated operating temperatures in the long term are also increasing performance degradation rate, which finally reduces the lifetime of the PV panel. Depending from the type of specific Si- based PV technology, the efficiency degradation rate mostly ranges from 0.4 %/°C up to 0.5%/°C, and the highest one is for Si-poly PV technologies, which are used most often. Therefore, in the past two decades, different cooling techniques have been developed for SI- based PVs in order to check potential increase in performance. Based on existing research findings, different active and passive cooling strategies for PVs are briefly elaborated and discussed from techno-economic point of the view, together with provided overview of the existing market available PV technologies. The necessity for the smart and hybrid cooling approach will be also addressed and discussed as a step further in development of the more advanced and targeted cooling techniques for PVs.

photovoltaics ; cooling ; efficiency ; renewable energy

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