Effect of colors of light on the PV/T system performance

SUMMARY In this paper, a new approach is proposed to evaluate the effect of colors of light on the photovoltaic cell performance. Based on the energy and exergy analyses of a photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) system and by using the photonic theory, the energy available on the PV/T surface and the exergy of the PV/T system have been evaluated. A case study is conducted to experimentally validate the model by using solar radiation data for four different months, namely January, April, August and October for New Delhi, India. The results show that the present day PV technology is influenced by the red color of light. In other words, the energy available on the PV surface lies between the wavelengths of orange and red colors whereas the exergy of the system lies between yellow and green colors of light. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.