A combination of concentrator photovoltaics and water cooling system to improve solar energy utilization

In the present study, concentrator photovoltaics were used to integrate the extraction of light energy and thermal energy. The water-cooling system proposed in the present study provides effective cooling by circulating cold water to remove heat in the photovoltaics. The experimental results were subsequently analyzed and compared to the power generation efficiency of the examined photovoltaics. The use of a water circulation cooling system improves the power capacity of photovoltaics by 2% to 15% and enhances the power generation efficiency of photovoltaics by 2.29% to 3.37%. Through the combined application of photovoltaic and thermal technologies, the total energy of the overall system can be improved by 37% to 59%, even after accounting for the energy consumption of the cooling system. As a result, environmental protection, energy savings, and increases in the efficiency of sunlight utilization can be achieved. Finally, a neural network was used to optimize these efficiency increases.