PVT to increase panel efficiency, extend life and capture heat

[Stan]

[nowty]

One of those things which sound like a good idea but most of the times the panels are getting really hot, its summer so do you need the hot air ?

And if its summer you probably have more power than you need anyway even if your a few percentage points down.

Arguably you get more power from a tracker but we don't use them any more either cos PV is now very cheap, just add a couple more cheap panels instead of adding complicated expensive ones with air blowers, etc.

[Stinsy]

I’m with Nowty on this.

Most of these “innovations” fail the test of: how does the cost/complexity compare with throwing up a few extra panels?

[Mart]

Same thoughts here when I watched them. Really great idea but struggling to think how they'd work economically on a domestic scale. larger scale, if you need a source of heat then the possibilities could be big. My first thought was for a swimming pool or gym, where they can generate a bit more leccy for their needs, and then use a heat pump or heat exchanger to use the hot air to reduce water heating costs. So you boost the PV efficiency, the efficiency of ASHP, and reduce bills.

I noticed both vids mentioned the idea of seasonal heat storage, which is a fascinating idea, based on the idea that the store and materials can be built at very low cost using local materials. So building a PV farm over (or near) such a site and using the air heat, as well as excess PV gen, sounds feasible (assuming the heat store part is already viable) as you could boost effectiveness even more.