A Comprehensive Analysis of a PV/T-TEGs System for Enhanced Solar Energy Conversion

The crystalline Silicon (c-Si) wafer-based modules are the ones used in almost all photovoltaic PV plants; the efficiency of such modules has been increasing and it ranges between 17.2 % to 23.2 %. The solar energy that is not converted into electrical energy becomes thermal energy, raising the temperature of the photovoltaic panel and decreasing the overall efficiency of the modules. A potential solution to harness this thermal energy is to use a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system equipped with thermoelectric generators (TEGs). In this study, we introduce a new Matlab/Simulink model of a PV/T-TEGs system and assess its yearly energy performance. Moreover, we conduct an economic analysis of various configurations under the real weather conditions of a location in Italy's Marche region. The study analyses the yearly energy production as the number of TEGs changes. It also examines the power and voltage produced by the TEGs, the temperature difference between the two faces of the TEGs over time for an optimal TEG configuration for a typical day of each month of the year. The economic analysis results are presented in terms of Payback Period (PBP), Net Present Value (NPV) and Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE). The findings indicate that: 1) the increase in annual electricity production of the PV/T-TEGs system compared to the PV/T system can increase by up to 1.49 %, 2) a small amount of electrical power can also be produced during the night, 3) the optimal number of TEGs to install to maximize the energy production and keep the NPV above zero is 20. As long as the number of modules is less than 60, the total energy produced by the system increases as the number of TEGs increases due to their direct energy contribution and the cooling effect they have on the PV/T system's fluid.