Integration of Thermoelectric generators (TEG) in Solar PVT panels

Abstract

Photovoltaic-thermal hybrid panels (PVT) simultaneously generate electricity and heat with a greater overall efficiency than photovoltaic (PV) and thermal (ST) panels independently. Hybrid PVT-TEG intends to go a step further by integrating thermoelectric modules (TEG) that, based on the Seebeck effect, produce electricity from a temperature difference, thus allowing an additional production of electricity and thus an increase of energy efficiency. In this paper, the design and construction of an experimental installation, consisting of two solar collectors PVT, one of them with 19 TEG modules integrated is presented. This prototype will allow to observe the increase in the electrical production that can be obtained by introducing TEG in PVT modules and the differences in the behaviour (yields and W/Q ratio) between modules with and without TEG.