WARM CLIMATE APPLICATION OF HYBRID PHOTOVOLTAIC AND WATER-HEATING SYSTEM

Photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) systems integrate photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies into onesingle system with dual production of electricity and heat energy. There are alternative designs to suitdifferent applications. For a given collector surface area, the overall system energy performance ishigher than the conventional "side-by-side" PV and solar thermal systems. This helps to promote PVsince the economic payback period of PV/T is much shorter. In this paper, the various water-basedPV/T systems and products are reviewed.