Jul 11 2010
Solimpeks Corp., a solar company based in Karatay, Turkey, has released the Volther hybrid solar collector, which produces electricity and hot water simultaneously. The hybrid modules produced by Solimpeks Corp. allow extra module heat to be absorbed to produce hot water, thus optimizing efficiency, the company says.
Historically, the main drawback of many conventional photovoltaic systems has been the high initial cost as well as the limited amount of electrical output when compared to the solar input. This Volther hybrid solar collector system allows excess heat to be recaptured and boosts the system’s return on investment, according to Solimpeks Corp. Nowadays, most people and countries like to be self supporting for their own energy needs. They are looking most of all to the durable energy sources like the sun, water and wind or geothermal. The systems, which are most common on the market now supply only electricity or only heat.
Let use look to the Sun. The sun is an infinite source of energy and generates 10.000 more energy than what the world consumes. There are two systems commonly to harness this energy. First we have the solar collector that makes normally hot water out of the energy from the sun. Second there are PV (Photovoltaic) modules, which converts sunlight into electricity. Both systems are increasing in popularity every day. Both systems utilise a black or dark surface that looks at the sun. This black surface absorbs the solar energy and heats up the solar collectors. However, when solar collectors heat up their ability to generate electricity dimishies at the rate of about 0.5 % for every Kelvin. So a 10 degree rise in tempertature in a PV module means a loss of about 5% of electricity output.
To solve this problem scientists have been working on different methods. The most promising one is “cooling pv cells with fluid”. In the PV-T, which is hybrid Photovoltaic and Thermal collector, production of both electricity and hot water is achieved simultaneously. The PV module’s heat is absorbed to produce hot water so that PV efficiency can be optimized as the heat is transferred into fluid to produce hot water.
PV-T hybrid collectors have the following advantages:
- They have increased electricity production performance of PV module
- Hybrid PV / T systems covering areas where electricity and heat energy produced from the total, half of this field with PV modules, the remaining half of the thermal
- Thermal collectors and PV modules to be installed side by side can create trouble in terms of availability and use and cause visual pollution. With PV / T modules, the electricity and hot water in the same area produce a space-saving and reduce environmental pollution.
Hybrid PV/T systems ROI is shorter than the PV systems. Consequently, PV / T systems can reduce the temperature of PV cells resulting in an increased lifetime and efficiency. Calculations done by several scientists, organizations and universities indicate only 25 square meters of PV-T collectors are required for a normal family house in northern Europe to generate all their energy for an entire year.
To store the electricity we can use normal batteries or hydrogen with a fuel cell. To store the heat from the summer we can make used of a ground storage similar to that used in the drake lake solar project where we heat 52 houses the whole year with solar energy.