Dear Khazim,

I think PV technology, PV rating and efficiency are criteria. Also, it is good to compare between indoor or outdoor separately. However, what is your experience in comparison for different technologies?

Dear Hussein,

The PV modules and the PV / T collectors have the same technology and structure concerning the part of  electricity generation, this means that the electrical modeling of a PV module remains the same electrical modeling for a PV / T collector. The only difference comes in the thermal modeling part (the geometrical configuration of the PV/T also intervenes). For more detail see attached paper, it gives a comparison in terms of energy performance between a PV module and a PV/T collector systems.

Best regards.

Article A detailed thermal-electrical model of three photovoltaic/th...

The common criteria are:

1) Conversion efficiency from solar radiation to electric power.

2) Long term reliability of the PV panels.

3) Performance over time.

I teach this topic in my Green Energy Systems course at Yale University.

Khali, Y.F. (summer 2016). Green Energy Systems (GES). Lecture notes, Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science (SEAS) and Yale College, New Haven, CT 06520, USA

Hope this helps answer your question.

Professor Yehia Khalil

Yale University

USA

I would advise anyone considering questions such as this not to focus too much on 'accuracy'. Generalised accuracy especially referring to weather dependent factors isn't achievable in real world situations. Focus instead on each individual case, analyse local conditions, and evaluate the best system accordingly.

PVT technology is nothing but it is an updated technology of PV technology, one can design a PVT plant only from the PV plant, it may be any kind of design proposed for Air preheating or water preheating but it should have the same PV system...

Dear Mohammed

I think the PV model is not enough to represent the PV performance when it is became part of PV/T due to the abnormal and non-uniform temperature. This problem increase when we use pipes and liquid for cooling since the cooling is not uniform, which makes some parts hotter than others.

Dear Yehia

I totally agree with you that the criteria you mentioned are the main and I may add the environment impact and economic side view.

Dear Tony

You are right. When we work on outdoor system linked to environment parameters “accuracy” is not the main concern, beside that it is difficult to distinguish with high accuracy which environment parameter is the more affect one.

Dear Dr Hussein

When comparing between PV and PVT systems depending in the use of the same PV panels types, the significant criteria of comparison is the long term employment of the PV panels. PVT systems, especially which uses water or nanofluids, exposed to many stresses in addition to corrosion and wear. In this case, more maintenance and repair costs and lower employment time.

Regards

Dear Miqdam

For comparison purpose, we can classify the criteria into “Technical” and “Economic”. The technical one contains: Yield Factor, Capacity Factor, Performance ratio, efficiency, losses, cooling method (air, water, fluid, etc), …etc. The economic one contains: cost of energy, payback period, …..etc.

I suggest we open the discussion to add more parameters to these two criteria.

“Technical” and “Economic”

I suggest we open the discussion to add more parameters to these two criteria.

“Technical”: Yield Factor, Capacity Factor, Performance ratio, efficiency, losses, cooling method (air, water, fluid, etc)

 and

“Economic”: cost of energy, payback period