Design and Performance Analysis of Low Temperature Solar Thermal Electric Generation Integrated PV Cells

The proposed system mainly consists of flat-plate compound parabolic concentrators (CPC) integrated with photovoltaic (PV) cells and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC). The fundamental of the hybrid PV-CPC module is illustrated and its feasibility is analyzed. Mathematical formulations are developed to study the heat transfer and energy conversion processes. The results indicate that the low temperature solar thermal electric generation integrated PV cells can produce nearly twice as much electricity per unit surface area as side by side PV panels and CPC collectors.