Techno-economic and environmental evaluation of passive cooled photovoltaic systems in Mediterranean climate conditions

Abstract This paper presents the techno-economic and environmental analysis of a passively cooled 260Wp polycrystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) system, based on results from a field investigation in Mediterranean climate conditions. Current available research lacks the proper experimental analysis of air passive cooling technique in realistic conditions. Passive cooling was enabled by application of perforated aluminium fins fixed on the back side surface of the PV panel. The performance of the passively cooled PV system was compared with a non-cooled PV system of the same size. Obtained results reveal that the proposed cooling approach can increase power yield of the PV system by 5% on at maximum, which corresponds with other research results and approaches dealing with same conceptual passive cooling solution. This result is obtained with high confidence in results, in a manner which has not yet been done in PV systems analysis. Based on the experimental findings, an economic evaluation was carried out for a 30 kWp solar power plant, which resulted in a Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) that ranged from 0.116 €/kWh to less than 0.10 €/kWh, with a simple payback time of 6 years, an acceptable value despite the subsidised electricity prices. Economic viability was hence proven and further possibilities were discussed, aiming at an improved LCOE. Finally, an environmental evaluation of the examined PV system was conducted by applying Life Cycle analysis (LCA); an interesting finding was that the considered PV system will start to have a positive contribution to CO2 emissions reduction after 7 years of operation, leaving the rest of operative lifetime for net CO2 emissions savings.