Abstract
The increasing installed area of solar technologies around the world gives us an idea about the unlimited potential available in solar energy. This combined with the rising fossil fuel prices and frequent power outages, favor decentralized power generation among domestic consumers and small industries. However, the low energy of the solar PV module, the low exergy of the solar flat plate thermal collector and limited usable shadow-free space on building roof-tops could be overcome by the high overall (electrical and thermal) efficiency of a solar Photovoltaic Thermal (PV/T) system, which combines the electrical and thermal components in a single unit area. This paper gives a brief overview of the different solar flat plate PV/T technologies, their efficiencies, applications, advantages, limitations and research opportunities available.
Ranko Goić
Full Professor | Department of Power Grids and Substations
Full professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Naval Architecture in Split exeperienced in transmission and distribution networks, renewable energy sources (RES), power system planing and economics