Feasibility for the Use of Flat Booster Reflectors in Various Photovoltaic Installations

Abstract

The feasibility for the addition of flat booster reflectors to PV panels is techno-economically investigated for various applications (building attached PVs, ground installations, grid-connected or stand-alone units) and various PV types (mono-crystalline and amorphous silicon PV panels). A model developed to this aim is applied to optimize the parameters of the PV/reflector module and to evaluate its applicability according to the solar radiation data of Athens (Greece). The reflectors may lead to significant increase of total incident solar radiation annually, without however to equivalently improve the economy of the system. The several reasons for this are identified (uneven illumination, edge effects, increased cell temperature, cost of reflectors). Promising applications of flat booster reflector proved to be their use in specific building attached photovoltaics (at south facades) and in standalone applications, allowing –in the latter- a better matching between the load and the energy source annual profiles.

Keywords

• Photovoltaics; Photovoltaics in buildings; Solar energy management; Booster reflectors; Stand-alone applications