Performances and yield assessment of glazed photovoltaic-thermal collectors

Photovoltaic-Thermal (PV-T) hybrid collectors are multi-energy components that convert solar energy into both electricity and heat. In this paper, the performances of a PV-T collector are investigated. The objective is not only the evaluation of the PV-T collector itself, but the evaluation of this component operating in a real energy system. For this purpose, experimental prototypes of PV-T collector were built, tested in an indoor sun simulator and finally installed and monitored at the EDF R&D outdoor test facility. PV-T prototypes were connected to a thermal system and the production of both electricity and domestic hot water was monitored. The first monitoring results showed that the integration of both PV and solar thermal technologies into one type of collector can lead to a high combined (electric and thermal) efficiency and yield. Then, based on these tests, the yearly performance of a PV-T domestic hot water system was simulated using TRNSYS. The results presented in this paper show that with PV-T collectors the system can provide the same solar thermal production but at the same time a higher electrical production than a system with separate PV panels and conventional thermal collectors side-by-side.