Hybrid Solar Panels Use Lost Thermal Energy to Heat Water

A hybrid solar panel system being developed at Brunel University London would both harvest energy and turn waste heat into hot water.

The 3 ½ year project, PVadapt, combines photovoltaic cells with flat heat pipes, which handle the waste heat. “PVadapt will use heat pipes to cool the PV cells themselves to make them more efficient and longer-lasting. And the heat removed from the cooling is reused,” claims Hayley Jarvis from Brunel University London.

Essentially, with PVadapt, there is no waste heat, as noted by Professor Hussam Jouhara, who invented the multifunctional flat heat pipe.

This isn’t completely unprecedented – back in 2010, scientists at Stanford were boasting about a “breakthrough” that could harness energy lost as heat in solar cells, and as long as photovoltaics have been a thing, we’ve struggled with inefficiencies and lost thermal energy.

But PVadapt could finally solve both problems in one elegant package, dramatically increasing energy efficiency by harnessing waste heat.

Read more about this project here: http://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/Lego-style-solar-panels-to-smash-energy-bills