An experimental investigation of the effects of absorber plate cooling methods on the efficiency of a solar cogeneration system

• The manuscript clearly addresses the performance degradation of photovoltaic systems under high operating temperatures and formulates it as a practical and technically relevant problem. • The literature review has been updated to include recent and relevant studies, with an emphasis on application-oriented and experimental research. • A clear research gap is identified regarding the lack of field-based experimental investigations under hot and arid climatic conditions. • The research methodology is well structured, and the use of schematic illustrations improves the clarity of the problem definition. • The quantitative results demonstrate meaningful efficiency improvements, thereby strengthening the technical validity and practical significance of the proposed a. The increasing global population and escalating clean and renewable energy sources must be widely used in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In this context, photovoltaic (PV) systems have gained significant prominence worldwide. Modern PV panels are increasingly utilized in both industrial and residential applications as a sustainable and cost-effective method for generating electricity and heat. This study investigates the impact of absorber plate cooling methods on the electrical and thermal performance of a solar photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) co-generation system. A novel hybrid cooling approach, employing simultaneous water and air cooling, was implemented in the present system. The performance of this hybrid-cooled system was then compared against a system without cooling. Experiments were conducted during the summer season (June-July-August 2025) at the University of Kashan’s Energy Research Institute. The implementation of the novel hybrid cooling method resulted in approximate increases of 40%, 53%, and 93% in electrical, thermal, and overall efficiencies, respectively. The findings indicate that water cooling significantly improved electrical and thermal efficiencies by up to 50% and 130%, respectively, compared to air cooling. Furthermore, the electrical efficiency of the water-cooled system exhibited a relative improvement of up to 100% compared to the uncooled reference case, particularly under high operating temperature conditions. Notably, the highest overall electrical and thermal efficiency, approximately 93%, was achieved with the novel hybrid cooling method (simultaneous Air cooling in the interior channel and water cooling of the panel’s front and back surfaces at the same time). Additionally, the hybrid’s thermal efficiency cooling method demonstrated rises of approximately 200% and 75% when compared to air and water cooling, respectively.