Efficiency and sustainability assessment of evaporative cooling of photovoltaics

Žižak, Tej (author), Domjan, Suzana (author), Medved, Sašo (author), Arkar, Ciril (author)

The cooling of PV has been shown to increase electricity production. Among passive techniques, evaporative cooling has one of the greatest potentials. In this work, the efficiency and sustainability of this technique have been investigated for various climatic conditions. In-situ experiments were conducted to develop parametric models for PV cell temperatures and back surface convective heat transfer coefficient. Experiments have revealed an up to 20.1 °C lower peak PV temperature and up to 9.6% increased electric power. Year-round analysis was made for eight cities to determine the required roof size to capture precipitation and the volume of rainwater storage for sustainable evaporative cooling. The study shows that sustainable PV evaporative cooling is possible in cities with temperate and continental climates, where 1–3 m$^2$ of roof area and 50–150 l of rainwater storage are needed for 1 m$^2$ of PV. The annual electricity production can increase by 5.9–9.4 kWh/m$^2$a, which is a 3.6–4.6% increase. In the semi-arid climate of Lampedusa, a roof above 4 m$^2$ and a storage of up to 500 l per m$^2$ of PV are required. In the desert climate of Almeria and Athens, sustainable evaporative cooling is not feasible.

• Language: English
• Keywords: evaporative cooling, PV cells, in-situ experiments, cooling water demand, rainwater storage, optimization
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FS - Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 12 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 254, pt. A, art. 124260
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-136907
• UDC: 620.9
• ISSN on article: 0360-5442
• DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.124260
• COBISS.SI-ID: 108992259
• Publication date in RUL: 24.05.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Energy
• Shortened title: Energy
• Publisher: Pergamon Press
• ISSN: 0360-5442
• COBISS.SI-ID: 25394688

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: hlapilno hlajenje, fotonapetostne celice, meritve v naravnem okolju, voda za hlajenje, zalogovnik deževnice, optimizacija

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Funding programme: Young researchers