A development of a corrugated roof tile solar panel

Abstract The main objective of this work is to develop a corrugated roof tile solar panel for installation together with ordinary corrugated roof tiles in Thailand. The roof tile solar panel was designed to resemble the external size and shape of ordinary corrugated roof tiles, with laminated monocrystalline silicon solar cells inside. For electrical production properties and economic analysis, the roof tile solar panel was installed on the metal roof structure model. The corrugated roof tile solar panel has well conformed installation together with the ordinary roof tiles. The roof tile solar panel shown the electricity production with maximum power ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>P</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:msub> </mml:math> ) of 30 Wp, with efficiency ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>η</mml:mi> </mml:math> ) of 8%, and fill factor ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>F</mml:mi> <mml:mi>F</mml:mi> </mml:math> ) of 75%. The economic analysis shows a payback period ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mi>P</mml:mi> <mml:mi>B</mml:mi> </mml:math> ) of 4.12 yr, was in the compatible length and has a less complex metal structure for installation compared to the conventional flat plate solar panel.