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Cooling Methods for Standard and Floating PV Panels

Author

Listed:
  • Arnas Majumder

    (Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Amit Kumar

    (Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Roberto Innamorati

    (Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (DiCAAR), University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
    Deceased.)

  • Costantino Carlo Mastino

    (Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (DiCAAR), University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Giancarlo Cappellini

    (Department of Physics, University of Cagliari, CNR-IOM SLACS and ETSF, Cittadella Universitaria di Monserrato, Strada Prov.le Monserrato-Sestu, km 0.700, Monserrato, 09042 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Roberto Baccoli

    (Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering (DiCAAR), University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy)

  • Gianluca Gatto

    (Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy)

Abstract

Energy and water poverty are two main challenges of the modern world. Most developing and underdeveloped countries need more efficient electricity-producing sources to overcome the problem of potable water evaporation. At the same time, the traditional way to produce energy/electricity is also responsible for polluting the environment and damaging the ecosystem. Notably, many techniques have been used around the globe, such as a photovoltaic (PV) cooling (active, passive, and combined) process to reduce the working temperature of the PV panels (up to 60 °C) to improve the system efficiency. For floating photovoltaic (FPV), water cooling is mainly responsible for reducing the panel temperature to enhance the production capacity of the PV panels, while the system efficiency can increase up to around 30%. At the same time, due to the water surface covering, the water loss due to evaporation is also minimized, and the water evaporation could be minimized by up to 60% depending on the total area covered by the water surfaces. Therefore, it could be the right choice for generating clean and green energy, with dual positive effects. The first is to improve the efficiency of the PV panels to harness more energy and minimize water evaporation. This review article focuses mainly on various PV and FPV cooling methods and the use and advantages of FPV plants, particularly covering efficiency augmentation and reduction of water evaporation due to the installation of PV systems on the water bodies.

Suggested Citation

  • Arnas Majumder & Amit Kumar & Roberto Innamorati & Costantino Carlo Mastino & Giancarlo Cappellini & Roberto Baccoli & Gianluca Gatto, 2023. "Cooling Methods for Standard and Floating PV Panels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-28, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:24:p:7939-:d:1295328
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    References listed on IDEAS

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