Enhancing the Energy Efficiency of Photovoltaic Cells Through Water Cooling

Hybrid systems not only generate a considerable amount of electricity but also provide heat. The thermal energy produced by photovoltaic thermal systems (PVTs) can support the needs of the building and can limit the gas consumption in the heating system. The research aims to design and study a hybrid photovoltaic system, through cooling a photovoltaic panel using water as a coolant, thus increasing the efficiency of the photovoltaic cells. At the same time hot water is obtained, that can be used directly or as a preheated primary source for the production of hot drinking water or heating agent, thus obtaining a successive cost reduction by reducing fuel consumption. By cooling a photovoltaic panel with water as a cooling agent, the efficiency of the photovoltaic cells is increasing from 15.74 in the case of the uncooled panel to 17.1 in the case of the water-cooled panel at flow rate v = 10 l/min, obtaining at the same time hot water with temperatures between 19.93 and 54.86 which can either be used directly or can be used as a preheated primary source for the production of hot water or heating agent, thus obtaining a further reduction in costs by reducing fuel consumption. The power production of the photovoltaic cells through cooling is increased by 4.2%, 7.46%, and 7.92%, for the 1 l/min, 6 l/min, and 10 l/min flow rates for the cooling agent.