Water-cooled PV that gathers up to 75% of the energy

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

This is pretty neat stuff: they water cool the PV panel, so it keeps a higher efficiency -- and they also then use that heat, too!

...combining it with a water-based cooling system that increases the photovoltaic cells’ efficiency and produces thermal energy to boot.

Somebody had their thinking cap on!

[cfg83]

Neil -

I like this part :

“By using mirrors to concentrate the sun’s light, you cut down by 1,000 the amount of photovoltaic material you need, and you’ve essentially opened the door to affordable photovoltaics,” explains the white-bearded professor, a straw hat on his head to protect himself from the afternoon blaze, already strong even on a mild April day. “The beauty of the mirror-based system is that since you have to cool it, you can get 50 percent more energy out of it in the form of hot water.”

So I think they are claiming 25% solar + 50% hot water (steam) = 75% (see below).

The solar concentrator reminds me of this :

Energy Innovations Home

The Sunflower concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system integrates photovoltaic modules, advanced tracking, unique power optimization, an embedded controller and wireless communication into one elegant solution to produce cost-competitive solar power while reducing installation and maintenance costs.

It also focuses a lot of light on a small high quality solar panel. Without energy recovery from cooling, it is 23% efficient, which is in line with what I speculated in the above.

CarloSW2

[Ryland]

This is not a new idea, but it does void the warenty of PV to do this.