Efficiency improvement of solar PV panels using active cooling

Abstract

Huge amount of Solar radiation reaching the earth can be harnessed to provide electricity through Photo voltaic (PV) panels. The solar PV is an exciting technology but suffers from low efficiency. A study on low efficiency in multi MW solar power plants reveals that the electric yield of the PV modules is reduced due to reflection of the irradiation from the sun and when a module's temperature is elevated, as there is decrease in the voltage and efficiency. We intend to improve the efficiency of the Solar Photo Voltaic Panels by active cooling to reduce the temperature losses considerably and decrease reflection losses to some extent. We deploy natural resources at the plant site to cool the panels which further results in efficient operation.