An Experimental Study on Cooling the Photovoltaic Modules by Fins to Improve Power Generation: Economic Assessment

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV) power plant is one of the most important renewable power generation methods, which is rapidly developing. One of the weak points of PV power plants is the negative effects of increasing the cells temperature on their power generation. In this study, a simple and low cost method is proposed to reduce the temperature of these panels. The use of fins has been proven in many industrial applications and here it is used as coolant of PV panel. This experiment was performed in maximum operating temperature of photovoltaic modules which is known as 85°C. By using numbers of aluminum fins on the back surface of photovoltaic panels under two different irradiation, the temperature reduction up to 7.4 °C was observed, and this reduction leads to 2.72 % increasing in efficiency. Finally, an economical assessment of the offered cases based on output power of PV panels carried out, which shows a suitable economic justifiability.