CCH (combined cooling and humidifying) - Viable technology option for increasing efficiency of solar PV system

Abstract

The sensitivity of solar photovoltaic panel towards temperature and relative humidity is investigated. The obtained result shows that increase in temperature and low humidity has the great effect on decreasing PV conversion efficiency. It was estimated that panel's temperature augmentation and low relative humidity caused the efficiency to decrease by 10-12%. This limitation makes solar PV an unreliable source of power for unattended or remote devices and thus strongly suggests the challenge of cooling and humidifying the panel's surface regularly. This study assesses how best to operate solar PV panel during peak sunlight hours to optimize generation with help of direct evaporative cooling technology (combined cooling and humidifying).