Electrical/thermal performance of hybrid PV/T system in Sharjah, UAE

Abstract

The paper proposes a design to improve the electrical efficiency of PV panels using Water Hybrid Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) system. A prototype of a PV/T system is built and the electrical and thermal performances of the system are investigated under ambient temperature conditions in SHARJAH, UAE during April 2014. The system is composed of a polycrystalline PV panel with a solar thermal collector adhered to its backside. Experiments were performed with and without cooling process to observe the improvement in the PV panel efficiency. The results show that the electrical power output for the PV/T system increased by 15 to 20 % when compared to PV panel. The thermal efficiency of the system was calculated from measured data and obtained values close to 60%-70% were achieved.