Solar PV and Themal Hybrid Panels

[Graeme Harrold]

Just had a call from a potential customer who I am to visit on Monday. He has mentioned PV-T panels through his research, and I wanted to know if anyone has started fitting them, cost effectiveness (currently), suppliers and if it was all worth it, and are there any pitfalls with these systems?

 

[pcollins]

I know nothing of these panels, though would be interested to know more, but would've thought that the temperature would be an issue - I know the water temp in thermal panels can reach well over 100 degrees and would expect such high temperatures to be detrimental to the performance of the pv side of things.

Just my 2p worth, I'm sure somebody has thought of a way around this!

 

[Graeme Harrold]

Done some reading and essentially its 3 technologies rolled into 1 system. The solar water is taken off the roof at a lower temp than usual, thus keeping the panel at an optimal PV temp, this is then processed through a heat pump exchange unit thereby extracting more heat. Not seen the costs involved, but seems to be quite a complex system with multiple failure points.

Think its still too early and will probably keep a close eye as it develops further.

 

[pcollins]

Atually, I think I may have read about this system - if its the one I'm thinking of it does use heat pump technology for the thermal side of it and uses hfc's rather than water so then will need a compressor to up the heat and thus using electricity in the process. Just like ground or air source heat pumps (although hopefully more efficient than these as they can be pretty power hungry)