Insights into the lifespan, power, cost, and area effectiveness factor: a new performance assessment method for photovoltaic module enhancement techniques

This study introduces and applies the \\({\\text{F}}_{{{\\text{LSPCAE}}}}\\) (lifespan, area, and power cost-effectiveness) factor as a novel metric to evaluate the performance of photovoltaic (PV) enhancement techniques—particularly cooling and reflective systems. The proposed indicator establishes a unified evaluation framework by balancing key parameters including the enhancer’s net power gain, operational lifespan, area and cost, alongside the performance characteristics of the PV module itself. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine how variations in these parameters influence the overall effectiveness of different PV enhancers. Results reveal that while higher power gains generally improve \\({\\text{F}}_{{{\\text{LSPCAE}}}}\\) , this effect is substantially moderated by the enhancer’s lifespan alignment with the PV module and its associated cost. Enhancers with shorter lifespans or high manufacturing costs and area exhibited reduced effectiveness, even when delivering significant power improvements. Conversely, lower cost and area enhancers with moderate power contributions demonstrated high effectiveness when their lifespan matched or approached that of the PV module. The analysis also shows that cost and area reductions in the enhancer improve overall performance. Application of the framework to experimental case studies yielded \\({\\text{F}}_{{{\\text{LSPCAE}}}} \\) values of 0.067, 0.065, and 0.064 for three PV cooling configurations, respectively, and 0.39 and 0.29 for the single- and double-reflector configurations. These findings highlight the importance of designing PV enhancement systems that balance electrical performance improvements with economic, spatial, and durability considerations. The \\({\\text{F}}_{{{\\text{LSPCAE}}}}\\) metric therefore provides an integrated framework for comparing PV enhancement technologies and may support researchers, manufacturers, and policymakers in evaluating their overall effectiveness.