Preliminary experimental results and performance analysis of hybrid retrofitted photovoltaic panels

The aim of present study is to investigate different methodologies to retrofit photovoltaic modules (PV), in order to ensure a good cooling effect by adding a thermal plate in the back side of the PV panel to collect heat, thus obtaining a thermal photovoltaic module (PVT). The most promising perspective of this technology is to couple it with a heat pump, in order to obtain a photovoltaic thermal solar-assisted heat pump (PVT-SAHP) system. This work proposes an investigation of three different solutions to retrofit commercial PV panels. A thermography analyses has been performed in order to verify the cooling effect on the PV module. Results show that retrofitting of existing photovoltaic panels represents an interesting approach in order to employ very simple solutions to increase the overall efficiency of PV system, especially by coupling it with a heat pump. Finally, in order to study the effective potential of this technology, three different system configurations have been compared in terms of primary energy efficiency, namely a photovoltaic solar assisted heat pump (PVTSAHP), a solar assisted heat pump (PCEA) and an air-to-water heat pump with a separate set of photovoltaic panels.