Experimental Performance Evaluation of Solar Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) System Under Actual Working Conditions of Raya Kobo, Amhara Region, Ethiopia

Hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PV-thermal) is a promising technology that could harness the maximum output from solar energy. In this work, a new thermal management system based on an innovative design of PV-thermal is designed and investigated under actual working conditions of Raya Kobo, Ethiopia. An experimental model was developed and test was conducted to evaluate the thermal and electrical performances of the system. The measured thermal power of the solar module was compared with ISO 9806 model calculated results and a good agreement was obtained. The results prevailed that the there is a significance improvement electrical performance of the panel and remarkable amount of thermal energy was generated. The average output electrical power of PV-T was 13.32W, whereas the maximum electrical power produced was 88.56W. The performance evaluation showed that daily average electrical efficiency, thermal efficiency and overall efficiency attained were 16.74%, 41.7%, 58.44% respectively with a constant mass flow rate of 0.004kg/sec. The measured daily thermal power gain of the solar PV-T collector was 70.14% of theoretical daily thermal energy which was predicted using the model. For the resulting solar PV-T system, the payback period for the incremental cost over the PV panel is 329 days. Therefore, this PV-T system can be very easily implemented as well as expanded for large area off grid and grid connected applications. It has a potential to make large positive impact on useful energy extraction from solar power plants<br>