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Pathways for mitigating thermal losses in solar photovoltaics.
Journal article

Pathways for mitigating thermal losses in solar photovoltaics.

  • Vaillon R Univ Lyon, CNRS, INSA-Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CETHIL UMR5008, F-69621, Villeurbanne, France. rodolphe.vaillon@insa-lyon.fr.
  • Dupré O Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Institute of Microengineering (IMT), Photovoltaics and Thin-Film Electronics Laboratory, Rue de la Maladière 71b, 2002, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
  • Cal RB Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Portland State University, Portland, OR, 97207, USA.
  • Calaf M Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, 84112, USA.
  • 2018-09-05
Published in:
  • Scientific reports. - 2018
English To improve the performance of solar photovoltaic devices one should mitigate three types of losses: optical, electrical and thermal. However, further reducing the optical and electrical losses in modern photovoltaic devices is becoming increasingly costly. Therefore, there is a rising interest in minimizing the thermal losses. These correspond to the reduction in electrical power output resultant of working at temperatures above 25 °C and the associated accelerated aging. Here, we quantify the impact of all possible strategies to mitigate thermal losses in the case of the mainstream crystalline silicon technology. Results indicate that ensuring a minimum level of conductive/convective cooling capabilities is essential. We show that sub-bandgap reflection and radiative cooling are strategies worth pursuing and recommend further field testing in real-time operating conditions. The general method we propose is suitable for every photovoltaic technology to guide the research focused on reducing thermal losses.
Language
  • English
Open access status
gold
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Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/204588
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