Satpute, J., et al.

: Analysis of Energy, Exergy, Environmental, and Economics …

THERMAL SCIENCE: Year 2022, Vol. 26, No. 5B, pp. 4233-4247 4233

ANALYSIS OF ENERGY, EXERGY, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND

ECONOMICS (4E) ON PHOTOVOLTAIC-THERMAL
COLLECTOR SYSTEM

by

Jitendra SATPUTE and John RAJAN*

School of Mechanical engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, India
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI210905010S

In this paper, a novel thermal absorber based photovoltaic-thermal system is

presented. The thermal absorber is attached at the rear surface of photovoltaic,
and water is re-circulated to extract heat. The outdoor experimentations are per-
formed at Pune, India (18.7611° N, 73.5572°) on clear sky day, and water tem-
peratures, surface temperature, radiation and flow rate are measured to analyse
techno-economical performance at different operating conditions. The surface
temperature of the photovoltaic module plummeted from 54.65 °C to 47.9 °C with
the incorporation of a thermal absorber with flipside water cooling at a ranging
flow rate of 0.03 to 0.06 kg per seconds. The result shows an average enhance-
ment of 4.2 % in the electrical power output of the photovoltaic-thermal system.
The maximum thermal and electrical efficiencies were 47.82 % and 9.88 %, re-
spectively, at 0.06 kg per seconds. The exergy efficiency was found in the range
of 9.85-14.30%. Based on the experimental evaluation, uncertainty analysis was
performed. The results revealed that the annual CO 2 mitigation for photovoltaic
and photovoltaic-thermal system was 225.46 kg annual and 464.8 kg annual,
while simple payback periods were 4.53 years 3.03 years, respectively. The anal-
ysis offers an efficient estimate of experimental features of photovoltaic and pho-
tovoltaic-thermal systems from an energy-exergy, environmental and cost-benefit
standpoint.
Keywords: solar energy, photovoltaic, water-cooling, co-generation;

Introduction
The technological advancement and peak of mobilization resulted in an upsurge in
the energy requirement of the world. The utmost energy requirements of industrial and social
activities of the globe are mainly fulfilled through conventional sources of energy, but the
deterrence caused by these conventional resources is unceasing. To accomplish the world's
energy requirements, developing alternative energy sources on a large scale becomes essen-
tial. For the last decade, solar energy has dominated the renewable energy sector, providing
cheaper energy solutions and reducing energy security [1]. The cumulative achievement in
solar energy-based electricity generation is exponential and reached around 821 TWh at the
end of 2020, accounting for 3.1% of global electricity production [2]. Solar energy is unlim-

____________
*
Corresponding author, e-mail: [email protected]
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ited in capacity, spread out across a large area, has a remarkable capability and can be extract-
ed using multiple media with zero emission. Solar energy is harnessed in the valuable form of
heat or electricity based on the type of the collector. Generating electricity with PV modules
is always preferred owing to a higher potential for domestic and industrial operations. How-
ever, voltage capacity declines at PV higher top exterior surface temperature, resulting in
electrical power loss [3]. To counterpart these problems, cooling agents are preferred to reject
this heat and maintain the PV module's surface temperature. Satpute et al. [4] studied various
effective and collectively accepted cooling methods like air, water, PCM, nanofluid, refriger-
ant, a combination of two or more fluids, and their applications. The front side cooling and
flipside cooling are two preferred arrangements to cool and maintain optimum PV tempera-
ture. The front side cooling, also known as spray cooling, allows cooling of PV by spraying
coolant on the top of the PV surface. The spray-based cooling technology has the advantage
of self-cleaning, which augments electrical performance, whereas flipside cooling generates
dual power from a single source and possesses multiple applications.
In flipside cooling, the PV system is cooled to optimize electrical power and extract-
ed heat gives thermal power. The generation of thermal and electrical from solar energy is
known as photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) or hybrid technology. Das et al. [5] investigated the
latest trend in the operating parameters, thermal absorber design, tilt angle, thermodynamics
management, energy-exergy analysis and development of flat plate PVT system and found
affordable. The importance of tilt angle and optimum operating condition to enhance heat
transfer capacity was highlighted in [6]. The solar water heating two-phase closed thermosy-
phon heat pipe of different designs and inclination angles was tested in Samsun, Turkey. Nu-
merous investigations were noted in the literature regarding solar system advancement and
applications like solar heating, electricity generation, power generation, refrigeration, water
desalination [7, 8]. The feasibility of the PVT system was investigated by Modrek and Alili
[9] for the UAE developing transient simulation.
The quantity of heat extracted from the PV surface determines the electrical and
thermal gain of the PVT system, hence, the thermal absorber and flow pattern needs to be
considered during PVT system design. Su et al. [10] presented four different dual-channel
cooling such as air-air, air-water, water-air and water-water in the PVT system. From the
investigation, the water showed better heat transfer characteristics. Tarabsheh et al. [11] pro-
posed a water pipe at the flipside of the PV module to analyse energy performance and pre-
sented the highest electrical efficiency of 13.48% at elevated module temperature. Dumrul et
al. [12] demonstrated a flat surface receiver for a concentrated PVT collector and analyzed
energy performance for nanofluids and refrigerants at varying flow rates. They observed that
the water-propylene glycol blend obtained maximum electrical power of 268 W at 0.06 m3 per
hour while thermal efficiency from all fluids was about 22%. The energy analysis of the PVT
system by proposing a mini channel tube thermal absorber to improve heat transfer from PV
module in the summer season was demonstrated [13]. The study reported electrical and ther-
mal efficiency of 11.5%, 46.8%, respectively. Recently, Selimli et al. [14] analyzed the Wa-
ter-PVT system's 2E (energy-exergy) performance at Karabuk, Turkey. The numerical and
experimental study was performed with copper coil and polyamide box thermal absorber and
found water cooling doubled the yield than conventional PV. The study presented the highest
exergy and overall energy efficiency of 11.53%, 59.88%, respectively, with polyamide box
thermal absorber. Similarly, the 2E (energy-exergy) performance of air-cooled PVT was stud-
ied at Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey [15]. The numerical model of Cu finned PVT was
developed, and the result was validated at a mass-flow rate of 0.031081 kg per secund and
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THERMAL SCIENCE: Year 2022, Vol. 26, No. 5B, pp. 4233-4247 4235

0.04533 kg per secund. Furthermore, the study obtained maximum thermal, electrical, and
exergy efficiency of 49.5%, 13.98%, and 16.15%, respectively, at a higher mass-flow rate of
0.04533 kg per secund.
Zuhu and Ceylan [16] experimentally investigated 3E (energy-exergy-environmental
cost) performance for concentrated air-based PVT systems in the winter season. They ob-
served thermal and electrical efficiency of 50% and 12%, respectively, while exergy efficien-
cy was 11-12%. The CO2 mitigation up to 0.6 kg per hour was observed with economic sav-
ing up to 1 ¢ per hour. Ozturk et al. [17] performed a 3E (Energy, Exergy, and Economic)
study for PVT system assisted heat pump at Hakkari and Trabzon climatic condition of Tur-
key. The TRNSYS model was developed, and maximum energy and exergy efficiency of 68%
and 22% were observed. It has been seen that Hakkari had a low annual energy consumption
cost of 67.14$ due to cold climate while 135.75$ for Trabzon. Arslan and Aktas [18] have
performed 4E (Energy-Exergy-Economic-Environmental) analysis for PVT systems intended
for drying application at different airflow rates. The study obtained thermal, electrical and
exergy efficiency of 43.75%, 13.49%, and 15.03%. The designed PVT system prevented 1.98
kg/hCO2 emission from the atmosphere and calculated CO2 cost of 2.86 ¢ per second.
In the past and current decade, studies have been attempted across the globe with
amending thermal absorber material, shape, size, flow pattern, thermal fluid, inlet fluid
temperature, slope angle to evaluate the energy-exergy-environmental/economic behav-
iour of the PVT system. It is noticed that further development in the geometrical shape of
the absorber and fluid-flow pattern can enhance heat withdrawal and performance effi-
ciency. The present work aims to demonstrate the 4E performance of an environment-
friendly, cost-effective W-PVT system with novel thermal absorber intended for heat and
electricity generation. The study aimed to estimate experimental features of designed W-
PVT system and compare with a conventional PV system. In the present study, a spiral
rectangular thermal absorber of low cost, non-corrosive, readily available, and lighter
weight aluminium material is developed. Water is preferred as a heat transfer medium to
estimate outdoor performance for Pune, Indian climatic conditions. The study was per-
formed at four mass-flow rates (0.03-0.06 kg per second) and aimed to determined the
relation between flow rates and energy-exergy-environmental and economic performance.
In the environmental analysis, amount of CO2 mitigation was calculated and profit made from
carbon credit was estimated. The economic analysis aims to determine cost-benefit, annual
worth (AW), and payback period of PV and W-PVT system to study economic viability and
commercialization perspectives.
Materials and methods
The outdoor trials were performed on a clear day to ensure maximum radiation.
During the testing period, observation of the surface temperature of PV and W-PVT sys-
tem, water inlet-outlet temperature, solar radiation, wind speed, and flow rate were noted
to accomplish performance assessment. The readings were taken in the day (10.30-15.30
hours) with 30 minutes intervals. The two PV modules, one with a spiral rectangular with
a square section thermal absorber known as a W-PVT system and another without a
thermal absorber, is a simple PV system of the exact specification tested simultaneously
for real-time performance, figs. 1 and 2. The position and inclination angle was evaluated
according to geographical location. The commercially available m-crystalline PV system
has a rated capacity of 100 W, total aperture area 0.66 m  0.55 m, open-circuit voltage,
Voc, of 21.77 V, and short circuit current, Isc, of 6.14 A. The water was used for heat ex-
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traction and circulated through the W-PVT system thermal absorber that acts as a heat
sink and condenses PV temperature. Many researchers preferred an air-fluid medium to
extract the heat; however, [13] shows water has better heat transfer characteristics than
air. The experimentations were carried out for the mass-flow rates of 0.03-0.06 kg per
second. The water flow circulation adopted is the close type and is re-circulated through
connecting pipes arrangement. The pyranometer is placed parallel to the experimental
setup to record solar radiation. The k-type thermocouple was placed at various locations
of the setup such as the surface of PV, W-PVT system, outlet and inlet of water, water
tank and connected to temperature acquisition system for display and storage. A separate
thermocouple was placed adjacent to the setup and exposed to the atmosphere to record
the ambient temperature. During experimentation, an ambient temperature was varied
between 29-33 °C while the wind was observed to vary within the range of 1-2 m/s. The
rotameter was used to measure and adjust the desired water mass-flow rate and placed
near the water tank. The voltage-current characteristics of PV and W-PVT systems were
measured with a multimeter. All the measuring instruments were calibrated with refer-
ence standards, and their uncertainties found were listed in tab.1
Table 1. List of instruments functionality in the experimental set-up
Objective Instrument Brand Uncertainty
Recirculation of water Pump Kirloskar-kir, Centrifugal 0.25 hp ±2%
Control, vary water flow rate Rotameter Aster, Model F-500 ±1%
Cogeneration of heat electricity W-PVT Eastman solar, Model EPP100 ±1 %
Measurement of voltage, current Multimeter Maxtech, Model DT- 603 ±2%
Measurement of temperature Thermocouple Omega, K-type, IEC 584-3 ±1 %
Generation of electricity PV module Eastman solar, Model EPP100 ±1 %
Storage of water Water tank Local made, a 100-litre capacity ±2%
Measurement of Radiation Pyranometer Eko instruments, Model ML01 ±2%

Figure 1. Schematic view of experimental work (a) and actual test rig (b);
1 – pump, 2 – flow control Valve, 3 – W-PVT system, 4 – multi-meter,5 – Temperature
acquisition system, 6 – PV system, 7 – water Storage tank, and 8 – thermocouple

The thermal absorber of aluminium owning thermal conductivity of 229 W/mK was
used and pasted to a flat sheet of the same material. In addition, the 0.01 m thick asbestos
insulation was provided to conserve heat, and the W-PVT system was covered by plywood
having 0.012 W/mK thermal conductivity from the bottom and side area. For the optimum
thermal and electrical gain from the collector, the single glazed configuration was selected [19].
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Figure 2. (a) Pictorial view of a spiral rectangular thermal absorber and

(b) cross-section of W-PVT system

Energy analysis
The overall daily performance of W-PVT (overall) is the combined power output ob-
tained through the solar system as a fraction of incident solar radiation for a given collector
area and mathematically expressed as [18]:
overall   thermal  electrical (1)
The rubrics of the PV solar system are to obtain electrical power through the PV ef-
fect. This useful electrical yield of the PV is the product of voltage and current output of the
photovoltaic (Pmax = IV) [18, 20]:
Pmax
electrical  (2)
IT Ac
The fraction of solar energy collected is transformed into heat via absorber and col-
lected in heated water form; this thermal performance, thermal, can be calculated as [18, 21]:
mC p T
thermal  (3)
IT AC
Exergy analysis
Exergy analysis is performed to estimate beneficial work potential and solar energy
conversion performance from the newly developed W-PVT system. The exergy analyzes the
exergy destruction indicators and maximum practical work obtained from the PV and PVT
system as it is brought in equilibrium to the surrounding. The exergy balance eq. (15) is ap-
plied to the PVT system and expressed as:
 Exin   Exout   Exloss (4)
where Exout is the exergy output from the energy system. In the case of a W-PVT system,
simultaneous and separate cogeneration of thermal and electrical power is the desired yield
and expressed as [15, 18]:
 Exout   Exthermal   Exelectric (5)

 Exin    Exthermal  Exelectric    Exloss (6)

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The input exergy from for PVT system mainly include solar radiation received by
the collector area and given by [15, 18]. The values of analytical and design parameters used
in exergy analysis are enlisted in tab. 2:
 4  T  1  T 4 
Exin  AIT 1   a    a   (7)
 3  Ts  3  Ts  
  T  273  
Exthermal  Qu ,ex 1   a  (8)
  Tfo  273  
Qu ,ex  mC p Tfo  Tfi  (9)

 4  T  1  T 4 
Exelectric   pv N c AIT 1   a    a   (10)
 3  Ts  3  Ts  

pv  ref 1  0.0045 Tc  Ta  (11)

where Tc is the PV cell temperature [22]:

Ppf I g  g  ref )  (hconvectionTa    hradiationTb 
Tc  (12)
 hConvection  hradiation 
hconvection  2.8  3V (13)

hradiation  1.78 Tm  Ta  (14)

The total Exergy efficiency of the W-PVT system can be calculated as [15, 18, 22]:
 Exloss 
 Ex  1   (15)
 Exin 

Table 2. Analytical and design values used in experimentation

Parameter Value Parameter Value
Sun temperature, Ts [ᵒC] 5777 Number of glass cover, Nc 1
Absorptance,  0.90 Packing factor, Ppf 0.8
Reference efficiency, ref 0.149 The transmittance of glass, g 0.96
Wind velocity, V [ms-1] 1.15 Reference temperature, Tref 25 ᵒC
Power-plant conversion factor, Pf 0.38 Specific heat of Water, Cp,w [kJkg–1K–1] 4.186

Economic analysis
Before executing the project on a large scale, studying economic feasibility and its
benefits is vital. For the economic analysis, the AW method is incorporated for a life span of
25 years at an interest rate of 10% to evaluate and compare the better alternatives. Lenand
and Anthony [23] defines AW and expressed as:
AW  Ac,revenues  Ac,expenses (16)

AWPV/W-PVT    C p  Ci   A / P, i, N   C Arc –  A / F , i, N  (17)

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i  i  1
N

A P (18)
1  i  1
N

i
A F (19)
1  i  1
N

Environmental analysis
The current section executes environmental analysis for PV and W-PVT to estimate
CO2 mitigation, a robust tool to encourage renewable energy. The CO2 mitigation is the quan-
tity by which CO2 emission is reduced by incorporating a clean solar power plant instead of a
conventional thermal power plant. According to a carbon-neutral charitable fund organization,
CO2 equivalent intensity for coal-based electrical power (ЄCO2) is 940 g CO2eq/kWh while
average of 31.25% Transmission and distribution losses during power production raise total
figure around 1.58 kg CO2eq/kWh. Therefore, annual CO2 mitigation (CO2) from designed
PV/W-PVT system [18]:
CO CO Ênet
2 2
(20)
where Ênet [kWh] is the annual energy generated from PV/W-PVT system can be calculated
as [21]:
Eˆ net  Eˆelectric  Eˆ thermal Pf (21)

Carbon credits are the international trading term that describes reducing GHG
achieved by substituting clean power generation sources. The international carbon trading
price varies from 11.00 US$/tCO2eq to 23.59 US$/tCO2eq, hence taking the average value of
17.30 US$/tCO2eq and a conversion factor of 1 US$ = INR 70, was used in the determination
of carbon credits (ṠCO2) is:
SCO2   CO2CO2 70 (22)
Uncertainty analysis
In the experimental set-up, the quantities are measured with physical instruments
that have the least count, and it is essential to consider these accuracies. All the experimental
parameters calculated are subjected to specific errors due to inaccuracies in the experimenta-
tion.
The overall yield of the W-PVT system is the function of independent variables like
a mass-flow of water, m, temperature difference, Tout-Tin, PV area, Ac, solar radiation, IT,
open-circuit voltage, Voc, of PV, and short circuit current, Isc. The errors associated with each
observation are wm, wTout, wTin, wA, wIT, wv, and wI, respectively. According to Kline and
McClintock [24] method, the general eq. for total uncertainty is:
2 2 2 2
 R   R   R   R 
WR    w1    w2    w3   ..   wn  (23)
 x1   x2   x3   xn 
where R= {m, Tout, Tin, Ac, IT, Voc, Isc} are the average value of parameters.
2
 T 
2 2 2
 T   T   T   T 
2

WT    Wm    WTout    WTin    WAc    wIT  (24)

 m   Tout  I 
  Tin   Ac   g 
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2
   E 
2
  E    E    E
2 2

W E   Wp    WV    WAc    wIT  (25)

 P   V   AC  
  I g 
The maximum uncertainties for the W-PVT system are ±0.37 and ±0.51 for thermal
and electrical efficiencies, whereas relative uncertainties are 0.88% for thermal efficiency and
3.46% for electrical efficiency.
Results and discussion
The yield of the solar power generation system depends on incident solar radiation
that varies day by day and hour by hour; hence solar radiation observations of the global,
beam and diffuse-type were shown in fig. 3(a). The beam radiations are non-scattered radia-
tion, whereas global radiations are the sum of the beam and diffused radiation. In the total
radiation, direct radiation is 83.73%, while diffuse radiation is about 16.23%. The ambient
temperature was seen to follow a concurrent trend with radiation. The dome shape deviation
of global and beam radiation was observed throughout the day, whereas minimal changes in
diffuse radiations. The maximum global radiation of 952 W/m2, was recorded with an ambient
temperature of 32.9 ºC at noontime, and then it declined afterwards. The average daily value
of global, beam, diffuse radiation and ambient temperature were 769 W/m2, 645 W/m2, 125
W/m2, and 31.39 ºC, respectively.

Figure 3. (a) Variation in the radiation and ambient temperature and

(b) variation in the top exterior surface temperature of the PV (T-PV), W-PVT (T-WPVT) system
Figure 3(b) illustrated the variation in the T-WPVT system from 0.03-0.06 kg per
second and compared with the T-PV temperature. The disparities in the solar radiation in fig.
3(a) caused variation in the surface temperature of the PV, W-PVT system. It is also seen that
T-WPVT was lesser than T-PV for all time of experimentation. It shows that water extracted
more heat from the PV surface at a high flow rate to reduce maximum surface temperature.
The reduction of T-WPVT at elevated solar radiation is the central area of interest in the
study. During the study, the T-WPVT surface temperature was reduced by an average of
12.18% with a water-cooling technique. The lowest surface temperature was observed in w-
PVT system at 0.06 kg per second. The measured values of PV/W-PVT surface temperatu-
re,ambient temperature and water inlet-outlet temperature during experimentation at 0.06 kg
per second mass-flow rate were tabulted in tab. 3.
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Table 3. Measured values at the mass-flow rate of 0.06 kg per second

Time 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30
Radiation 849.1 916.7 931.3 942.8 972.8 858.8 795.2 715.3 588.4 475.5 436.5
T-PV, [ºC] 58.21 59.82 60.45 59.36 58.61 57.73 55.83 54.45 53.21 51.75 50.49
T-PVT, [°C] 50.12 51.32 51.98 52.45 52.17 51.11 50.14 48.82 48.21 47.23 48.81
Ta, [ºC] 30.74 31.11 31.45 32.15 32.97 32.41 31.92 31.22 30.91 30.52 30.22
Tfi, [ºC] 32.12 33.56 34.71 36.71 38.91 41.12 42.50 43.61 44.32 45.05 45.51
Tfo, [ºC] 32.44 34.02 35.24 37.42 39.68 42.02 43.21 43.92 44.63 45.27 45.76

As shown in fig. 4(a), the voltage, Voc, producing capacity of simple PV system de-
scends from the morning period reaches to least value, and then slightly swells in the after-
noon period that collaborates with the previous study [25]. The extraction of heat from the W-
PVT surface significantly reduces the temperature of T-WPVT that resulting in increasing
voltage of the W-PVT system. It was also observed in fig. 4(b) that at a higher water flow
rate, T-WPVT further augments heat transfer to attain better voltage. The voltage improve-
ment of 4.04% was noted at a 0.06 kg per second flow rate.

Figure 4. (a) Variation in the Voltage [V] producing capacity of simple PV and W-PVT system, and
(b) voltage [V] producing capacity at varying the mass-flow rate
Figure 5(a) shows that the radiation causes augmenting the T-PV of a simple PV
system during the morning period, thereby decreasing electrical performance. On the other
hand, in the afternoon period, as the top exterior surface temperature of a simple PV reduces
due to lower radiation value, the electrical efficiency increases and becomes almost constant.
The reduction in the maximum PV temperature from the W-PVT system results in increasing
the electrical yield. The highest electrical yield of 11.42% was achieved at 0.06 kg per second
flow rate with the W-PVT system at 13:00 hours. A simple PV system obtained an average
electrical efficiency of 5.67%, while 9.88% was achieved through W-PVT at an elevated wa-
ter flow rate of 0.06 kg per second. It was observed that electrical performance amplifies with
increasing water flow rate, but this increment is diminutive. The results achieved were in
acceptable conformity with research work [26] done in Delhi, India.
The PV surface temperature characteristics have a significant consequence on con-
version efficiency when exposed to outdoor radiation. With incorporating water coolant, the
average temperature of the W-PVT surface starts dropping, resulting in improved electrical
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efficiency with supplementary thermal gain. During the test, the optimum efficiency of 9.88%
electrical and 47.82% thermal was observed at a mean temperature of 47.9 °C, and additional
temperature fall is possible by raising the flow rate of the water coolant.

Figure 5. (a) Variation in electrical efficiency of PV and W-PVT system and

(b) effect of PV temperature on the electrical-thermal performance
(for colour image see journal web site)

Exergy analysis
The maximum work potential at a known mass-flow rate or energy corresponding to
ambient conditions was evaluated for PV and W-PVT systems to determine exergy efficiency.
Figure 6 explains the energy, exergy efficiency of PV and W-PVT system at varying water
flow rates. The total exergy efficiency is the combined electrical and thermal exergy for the
W-PVT system, while it was just the electrical exergy for the PV system. It was noticed that
the exergy efficiency of W-PVT is higher than the PV system. However, the rise of exergy
efficiency with the mass-flow rate is shallow because the maximum work potential at a higher
flow rate was restricted by exergy destruction caused by volume and irreversibility associated
with the flow. Hence exergy efficiency was observed to vary in the range of 13.50-14.30% for
the W-PVT system while it was 7.15% for the PV system. It was also observed that electrical
exergy yield is the dominant part of total exergy output from the system. The tab. 4 shows
comparative results of energy-exergy performance in literature and present study.

Figure 6. Variation in energy, exergy efficiencies of

PV and W-PVT system
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THERMAL SCIENCE: Year 2022, Vol. 26, No. 5B, pp. 4233-4247 4243

Table 4. Studies on W-PVT in literature and their results

Type Efficiency (%)
Flow Rate
Author of Absorber Material Location
[kgsec–1] Electrical Thermal Exergy
cell
Alomar and Ali [27] Mono Plate-pipe Copper Iraq – 12-16 25-58 12-20
Stainless Sultanate of
Fudholi et al. [28] Poly Spiral 0.011-0.041 13-13.8 45-55 25
Steel Oman
Spiral Copper 9.74 29.08 10.64
Selimli et al. [14] Poly Turkey 0.00166
Box Polyamide 10.19 49.69 11.53
Shenzhen,
Qingyang et al. [29] Mono Tube-sheet Copper 0.09 10.0 46.5 8.41
China
Roll Bond-
Kitanovski et al. [30] Poly Aluminium Slovenia 0.007-0.009 9.9 33.5 12.7
Bionic
Spiral-
Current study Poly Aluminium Pune, India 0.03-0.06 7.21-9.88 40.51-47.8 13.6-14.3
rectangular

Economic analysis
Figure 7(a) shows cash flow of PV and fig. 7(b) shows cash flow of W-PVT system
for 0 to 25 years. The horizontal line indicates the life span of a PV/W-PVT system, and the
downward lines indicate the cost incurred for the system. A Zero (0) year indicates that the
system's commissioning year and capital, transport, and installation costs were expedited. The
total cost of INR 11780.80 incurred for the purchase of the W-PVT system with INR 1300
installation cost and INR 500.00/annum was assumed to be spent on operation causes. The
cost of INR 4872.8 occurred to purchase a PV system with INR 800 installation cost. In addi-
tion, an INR 500.00 was set aside for maintenance, breakdown, and replacement of some
components for PV and W-PVT systems.

Figure 7. (a) Cash flow diagram for PV System and (b) cash flow diagram for W-PVT System

As shown in tab. 5, annual worth value for both cases of PV and W-PVT systems
are negatives as they represent cost values. For annual revenues calculations, heat gain and
electrical power obtained from the PV/W-PVT system during the experimental period have
been taken for evaluation. In India, the average unit cost of electricity is INR 6.95. It was seen
that though the initial investment cost of W-PVT is high, the simultaneous generation of heat
and electricity from a single unit gives a payback period of 3.02 years which is smaller than a
conventional simple PV system. The evaluated simple payback period for a PV system is 4.53
years. In early life years, cost-benefit is pessimistic for both cases; the value becomes positive
 Satpute, J., et al.: Analysis of Energy, Exergy, Environmental, and Economics …
4244 THERMAL SCIENCE: Year 2022, Vol. 26, No. 5B, pp. 4233-4247

Table 5. The AW for the PV and W-PVTsystem

Period (Year) 5 10 20 25
PV System –1524.64 –1170.12, –1011.25 –985.67
W-PVT System –2827.39 –2076.34 –1739.76 –1685.57

and demonstrates a growing trend. From the results, after the 7-years of use, cost-benefit val-
ues for PV and W-PVT system are INR 181.97 and 1774.29, respectively, rising to 416.35
and 2292.02 in the 14th year. In the preceding year, a linear swell in cost-benefit values was
observed. The cost-benefit value was INR 473.18 for a PV system and INR 2412.42 for a W-
PVT system in 19th years. In the 24th year, the PV and W-PVT system's cost-benefit value
reaches 502.11 and 2473.71, respectively. The result shows that W-PVT possesses better-
promising cost benefits and can be used for elevated lifespan.
Environmental analysis
The environmental analysis assesses the constructive impact of the newly designed
PV and W-PVT solar system and the feasibility of economic gain through carbon credits. In
India, 62% of power is generated from a conventional thermal power plant. An environmental
analysis was performed by extending energy results for a year. The annual CO2 mitigation
from an energy perspective and annual economic gain from carbon credits are shown in fig. 8,
respectively. The present study conducted in optimum sky and solar radiation state as reported
in [21]. The annual CO2 mitigation from a simple PV system was 225.46 kg annual, while in
the W-PVT system, these values were 347.11, 402.24, 422.71 and 464.37 kg annual at 0.03,
0.04, 0.05 and 0.06 kg per second water flow rates, respectively. The additional economic
benefits from selling carbon credits were evaluated using eq. (22). It was observed that annual
gain for simple PV and W-PVT were 273.03, 453.04, 487.11, 511.90 and 562.71 INR annual,
respectively. Based on the above analysis, it can be concluded that W-PVT proves significant-
ly superior in CO2 mitigation at higher water flow by energy approach.

Figure 8. (a) The CO2 mitigation and (b) economic gain through carbon credits from
PV and W-PVT system

Conclusions
The W-PVT system enhanced cooling and improved energy, exergy, economic and
environmental performance. The improvement in electrical efficiency was noted from 5.68%
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of a simple PV system to 9.88% that of the W-PVT system at 0.06 kgper second, nearly 4.2%
higher. It was seen that the change in electrical yield is much smaller compared to thermal
yield. Every 1 °C decrease in surface temperature due to cooling is followed by a 0.28% in-
crease in electrical and a 1.02% increase in thermal efficiency through recovered heat. It was
observed that the electrical and thermal efficiency from the W-PVT was the function of mass-
flow rate and found in range of 7.21-9.88% and 40.51-47.8%, respectively. The exergy effi-
ciency was observed in the range of 9.85-14.30%. The market study shows that the initial cost
of W-PVT was about 2.5 times more than the simple PV system. The analysis shows a pay-
back period of 4.53 and 3.03 years for the PV and the W-PVT system. From the environmen-
tal analysis, W-PVT at 0.06 kg per second flow rate mitigated maximum CO2 of 464.67 kg
annual along with the economic return of INR 562.71 annual. Thus W-PVT system is a sig-
nificant, feasible, and economical option than using a simple PV system alone in the long life
span for better power generation and is recommended for household applications. The analy-
sis can be carried out by adding extended surfaces further to boost the overall performance of
the W-PVT system.
Nomenclature
Ac – area of PV [m2] W-PVT – water based photovoltaic
Cp – specific heat of water [kJkg–1K–1] thermal system
Ệnet – annual energy generated [kWh]
Ệelec – annual electrical energy Subscripts
generated [kWh] Ac,expenses – annual expense cost [INR]
Ệnet – annual thermal energy generated [kWh] Ac,revenues – annual revenues [INR]
i – interest rate [%] Ci – installation cost [INR]
IT – incident solar flux [Wm–2] Cp – capital cost [INR]
ṁ – mass-flow rate [kgsec–1] Cara – maintenence cost [INR]
R – error [%] Exin – input exergy
V – velocity of air [ms–1] Exout – output exergy
Exloss – exergy loss [Wm–2]
Greek symbols Extherm – thermal exergy [Wm–2]
 – absorptance Exelectric – electrical exergy [Wm–2]
φCO2 – annual CO2 mitigation [kg annual–1] hconvection – convective heat transfer [Wm–2K–1]
ЄCO2 – CO2 equivalent intensity [CO2eqkWh–1] hradiation – radiation heat transfer [Wm–2K–1]
ṠCO2 – carbon credits [US$tCO2eq–1] Isc – short circuit current [I]
CO2 – international carbon trading price [US$] Nc – number of glass cover
Δ𝑇 – change in fluid temperature [°C] Pmax – maximum power condition [W]
g – transmittance of glass Ppf – packing factor
 – efficiency [%] Pf – power factor
ref – reference efficiency [%] Qu,ex – experimental useful heat gain [W]
thermal – thermal efficiency [%] tCO2eq – tonnes of CO2 equivalent [tonnes]
electrical – electrical efficiency [%] Tfi – inlet temperature of water [°C]
ex – exergy efficiency [%] Tfo – outlet temperature of water [°C]
Ta – ambient temperature [°C]
Acronyms Tb – base PV temperature [°C]
A/F – sinking fund factor Tc – PV cell temperature [°C]
A/P – capital recovery factor Tm – mean temperature [°C]
AW –annual worth Ts – avg. PV temperature [°C]
N – life cycle TSun – avg. Sun temperature [°C]
PVT – photovoltaic thermal system Voc – open circuit voltage [V]
T-PV – top surface temperature of a Wm – error with mass-flow rate [kgsec–1]
PV system [ºC] WT,fi – error with inlet temperature of
T-PVT – top surface temperature of a W-PVT water [°C]
system [ºC] WAc – error with area of PV [m2]
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WT,fo – error with outlet temperature of WI – error with incident current [A]
water [°C] WȠT – uncertainty in thermal efficiency
WIT – error with incident solar flux [Wm–2] WȠE – uncertainty in electrical efficiency
Wv – error with incident voltage [V]

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Paper submitted: September 5, 2021 © 2022 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia.

Paper revised: October 11, 2021 Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia.
Paper accepted: December 20, 2021 This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 terms and conditions.