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Thermal Issues in Photovoltaics and Existing Solutions

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Thermal Behavior of Photovoltaic Devices

Abstract

This chapter introduces the different effects of temperature on the performances of photovoltaic (PV) devices. Efficiency of the vast majority of photovoltaic devices drops when their temperature rises. An augmentation of temperature has other effects on certain types of PV devices such a promoting the regeneration of amorphous silicon cells. High device temperature is also a factor favoring different degradation mechanisms such as potential induced degradation (PID). All of these temperature-induced effects have important implications for the photovoltaic industry. Indeed, two different cells or modules with the same rated power in the standard test conditions (STC) , i.e. 1000 W m−2 of AM1.5 illumination and a cell temperature of 25 °C, may produce different electrical powers under real outdoor conditions and thus have different energy yields. To forecast accurately the energy production of PV plants, it is thus necessary to predict their operating temperature s. This chapter presents an overview of the models developed towards that end. Then, different strategies to reduce the operating temperature of PV devices are presented. Several active and passive cooling methods are introduced. The specificities of hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV-T) systems, which generate both heat and electricity, and building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where the PV modules are part of the building envelope, are discussed. Finally, the potential of radiative cooling and other thermal design approaches of solar cells and modules are evaluated.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    With the exception of certain solar cells such as those made of amorphous silicon. Detailed explanations are given in Sect. 1.1.2.

  2. 2.

    See the definition in Sect. 2.1.

  3. 3.

    Bandgap or energy bandgap corresponds to the energy separating the valence band from the conduction band in a semiconductor.

  4. 4.

    a-Si: amorphous silicon. CdTe: cadmium telluride . c-Si: crystalline silicon. CIGS: copper indium gallium selenide . SHJ: silicon hetero-junction.

  5. 5.

    The performance ratio (PR) of a PV module is defined as the ratio between its actual energy yield and its maximum theoretical energy yield given by the incoming irradiance and the module nominal efficiency.

  6. 6.

    pc-Si stands for polycrystalline silicon. It is often used as a synonym of multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) but these denominations refer to materials with different grain sizes according to the terminology defined by Basore (1994). Grain sizes >10 cm: c-Si (monocrystalline silicon); 1 mm–10 cm: mc-Si (multicrystalline silicon); 1 μm–1 mm: pc-Si; <1 μm: μc-Si (microcrystalline silicon).

  7. 7.

    The prototype modules in Krauter (2004) weight 200 kg.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Energy and Thermal Sciences of Lyon, CNRS, Univ Lyon, INSA-Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France

    Olivier Dupré & Rodolphe Vaillon

  2. Radiative Energy Transfer Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

    Rodolphe Vaillon

  3. Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

    Martin A. Green

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Dupré, O., Vaillon, R., Green, M.A. (2017). Thermal Issues in Photovoltaics and Existing Solutions. In: Thermal Behavior of Photovoltaic Devices. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49457-9_1

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