Environmental and economic sustainability of PVT drying system: A heat transfer approach

Present communication is an attempt to explore the best PV technology suitable for PVT solar drying system through environmental and economic feasibility. Experimental setup for one of the PV technology (c-Si) has been taken for experimental validation with theoretical model. Further, the environmental feasibility and environ economic evaluation for drying system having roof with various PV namely, c-Si, p-Si or m-Si, a-Si, CdTe, and CIGS have been evaluated through energy matrices (EPBT, EPF, and LCCE), CO2 emission, net CO2 mitigation and carbon credit earned which is based on energy and exergy output of the system on yearly basis. The economic analysis has been carried out with experimental data taken on c-Si PVT drying system by considering grapes as a crop. Cogeneration efficiency has been calculated for different PV technologies and found to be highest for c-Si PV technology that is, 61.71%, 77.98%, and 12.25% based on energy (electrical and thermal) gain, equivalent (overall) energy gain, and exergy gain, respectively. LCCE on energy basis reveals that for the five-year system life, c-Si and CIGS have equal efficiency but after five years, c-Si is best. Cogeneration efficiency of system on the basis of energy (electrical + thermal) gain, equivalent (overall) energy gain and overall exergy gain found to be maximum with c-Si PV technology that is, 61.71%, 77.98%, and 12.25%, respectively.

Automated summary

This study explores the best PV technology suitable for PVT solar drying system through experimental validation and environmental and economic evaluation, finding that c-Si technology performs the best after five years.