Experimental and numerical comparative investigation on a concentrating photovoltaic system

As photovoltaic industry has entered the fast development period with the advent of the energy crisis, concentrating photovoltaic technology has been one of the important options among renewable energy technologies. A high concentrating photovoltaic/thermal (HCPV/T) module has been experimentally studied and compared with the HCPV module. The experimental results indicate that the HCPV/T module shows better performance with 26.5% electrical efficiency and additional 49.3% thermal efficiency. Meanwhile, both of the numerical thermal and electrical models have been built to investigate the characteristics of the HCPV/T system. The temperature coefficient of photovoltaic cell efficiency is -0.054%/degrees C, and the drop in system electrical efficiency with temperature is -0.042%/degrees C. Analysis of the temperature coefficient of the system efficiency indicates that the overall efficiency is not sensitive to the coolant temperature. The results are expected to contribute to a better design and performance of HCPV/T systems, which have promising potential applications in the clean production. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.