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Title: Analysis of concentrating PV-T systems for the commercial/industrial sector. Volume II. PV-T state-of-the-art survey and site/application pair selection and analysis

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6031395· OSTI ID:6031395

As part of a project to develop feasibility assessments, design procedures, and reference designs for total energy systems that could use actively cooled concentrating photovoltaic collectors, a survey was conducted to provide an overview of available photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) technology. General issues associated with the design and installation of a PV-T system are identified. Electrical and thermal efficiencies for the line-focus Fresnel, the linear parabolic trough, and the point-focus Fresnel collectors are specified as a function of operating temperature, ambient temperature, and insolation. For current PV-T technologies, the line-focus Fresnel collector proved to have the highest thermal and electrical efficiencies, lowest array cost, and lowest land area requirement. But a separate feasibility analysis involving 11 site/application pairs showed that for most applications, the cost of the photovoltaic portion of a PV-T system is not recovered through the displacement of an electrical load, and use of a thermal-only system to displace the thermal load would be a more economical alternative. PV-T systems are not feasible for applications that have a small thermal load, a large steam requirement, or a high load return temperature. SAND82-7157/3 identifies the technical issues involved in designing a photovoltaic-thermal system and provides guidance for resolving such issues. Detailed PV-T system designs for three selected applications and the results of a trade-off study for these applications are presented in SAND82-7157/4. A summary of the major results of this entire study and conclusions concerning PV-T systems and applications is presented in SAND82-7157/1.

Research Organization:
BDM Corp., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
6031395
Report Number(s):
SAND-82-7157/2; ON: DE85006623
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Portions are illegible in microfiche products. Original copy available until stock is exhausted
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English