Energy performance comparison of concentrated photovoltaic – Phase change material thermal (CPV-PCM/T) system with flat plate collector (FPC)

The current article evaluates a method of cooling low concentration photovoltaic (CPV) through the solid-liquid phase change material (PCM) to mitigate temperature-based power losses and utilize the recovered heat. The heat stored in the melted PCM is exchanged with domestic supply water, thus developing a novel CPV-PCM thermal (CPV-PCM/T) system. The CPV-PCM/T system is evaluated outdoors in the extreme hot weather conditions of Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the three consecutive days. The energy performance of CPV-PCM/T system is compared to the ordinary flat plate collector (FPC) and the experiments run simultaneously at the same site. Although the CPV-PCM/T produces lesser net energy (1527 kWh/m2-day) compared to FPC (1803 kWh/m2-day) yet the cost of production is 28% lower than the FPC.