Effect of cooling systems on photovoltaic efficiency

Abstract

Solar power plant (SPP) is one of the alternative power generation systems with great potential to be developed in Indonesia because the climate is relatively constant throughout the year. The main component in the SPP is the photovoltaic (PV) system, which converts solar energy into electrical energy, directly. The ideal temperature of the PV module must be below 40 ℃ to maximize the power generated by photovoltaic, and to maintain this condition the cooling system should be installed in the PV system. In this research, the cooler effects on the electricity generated by the PV will have experimented. The type of PV module is monocrystalline silicon photovoltaic modules, with available in the 1000 Wp grid-connected PV system at the campus of Itenas Bandung. The PV module used 265 Wp (4 units) using 900 W of the inverter system. The results of these experiments get the difference in electricity generated by PV modules with a cooler (active cooling by spraying water) and PV modules without a cooler. Based on experiments on January 12, 2020, it was found that at 14:00, the PV modules' efficiency with and without cooler were 25.68% and 24.24%, respectively.