Development of a seawater-proof hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) solar collector

Hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems provide both electrical and thermal energy. The development of seawater-proof PV/T systems can enlarge the, by now, very limited PV/T application fields to a new one: sustainable reverse osmosis (RO) desalination. There, the PV/T systems' disadvantage of heat at low temperature level can redound to its advantage: the RO freshwater output is increased at elevated seawater temperatures while the PV efficiency is improved due to cooling with seawater. In this paper, the development of a novel seawater-proof PV/T system with the aim of low cost and high electrical and thermal performance is presented. Low-cost is achieved by using standard components combining a polypropylene thermal absorber with a commercial PV system. Experimental investigations on a PV/T prototype include thermal and electrical efficiency characterization at different fluid temperature levels, mass flow rates and ambient conditions. The results are compared the state-of-the-art PV/T systems.