Exergetic and enviroeconomic analysis of semitransparent PVT array based on optimum air flow configuration and its comparative study

This paper carries out the exergetic and enviroeconomic analysis of semi-transparent photovoltaic thermal (PVT) array (size 10.08 m × 2.16 m). Its exergetic and enviroeconomic performance has been compared with glass to tedlar i.e. opaque PVT array termed as case-A which has two integrated columns each having 18 PVT modules in series are connected in parallel and solar cell tile (SCT) based PVT array termed as case-B which has two integrated columns of 18 modules each having 36 PVT tiles (each solar cell having area 0.12 m × 0.12 m) in the module is connected in series. The semi-transparent photovoltaic thermal (PVT) array considered as case-C which also has two integrated columns each having 18 semi-transparent PVT modules in series are connected in parallel. The size of all above array (10.08 m × 2.16 m) is considered same. Four different climatic conditions of India (Delhi, Bangalore, Jodhpur and Srinagar) have been considered and the performances of the all above three cases have been compared on the basis of annual overall thermal energy and exergy gain. The comparative analysis shows that case-C has 28.8% and 12.1% lower cell temperature which yields 9.9% and 3.1% higher electrical efficiency than case-A and B respectively. Also the average outlet air temperature for case-C is higher by 40.6% and 19.1% than case-A and B respectively. The CO2 mitigation and enviroeconomic parameter for Bangalore in terms of overall thermal energy gain for case-C is 104.80 tCO2/annum and 1519.56 $/annum respectively, while in terms overall exergy gain is 48.76 tCO2/annum and 707.09 $/annum respectively. The CO2 mitigation potential of case-C is higher by 5.0% and 7.3% than case-B in terms of overall thermal energy and exergy gain respectively which indicates that case-C is a better performer than the other two cases.