Abstract
Total nominal power of solar photovoltaics (PV) worldwide installed in 2050 will reach more than 4 TW. As assuming 20 % PV efficiency of the panel, the rest of 80 % solar radiation would be the exhaust heat from the PV panels at about temperature of (ambient + 40℃) on fine day. Therefore, PV panel would be better to be kept at lower temperature and the panel could be used for providing not only electricity but also thermal energy. We are developing a photovoltaic/thermal (PVT) panel by coupling with decompression boiling for collecting thermal energy, which can control the temperature of inside air in the panel. This report provides the current thermal and PV performances of the proposed PVT panel, which can keep the air temperature inside the panel at the similar temperature of building walls around the solar-panel, while providing warm water about 40℃ through a year.
