The first broad-based European roadmap for PVT provides a unique overview of the current state of technology and commercially available products. The Roadmap also identifies a number of interesting markets for PVT: the residential market – both new construction and renovation – is the most important market, but hospitals, public swimming pools and air heating for offices are important markets as well.
Solar panels produce electricity from sunlight, but they also heat up in the sun. However, this heat, which is normally wasted, can be put to very good use. A ‘PV-Thermal’ or ‘PVT’ system produces electricity from sunlight while simultaneously using the excess heat to produce hot water or hot air. This first European roadmap, the result of research in the PV Catapult project coordinated by ECN (Energy research Centre of the Netherlands), provides an overview of the current situation in this field.
PVT Air system built by Grammer Solar.
The advantages of PVT systems are obvious: depending on size, they produce 20 to 40 percent more energy per square metre than separate PV panels and solar collectors, while the production and installation costs are lower due to the integration of two technologies in one. Moreover, only one supplier is needed, which greatly simplifies construction preparations and liability for the systems once installed. The potential market is considerable, about the same size as that for solar collectors.
On a European level, the ‘two for the price of one’ cost advantage of PVT systems produces substantial savings. The European Union’s targets for 2010 – an installed capacity of 3 GWp of solar cells and 100 million sq m of solar collectors – can be achieved at much lower cost using PVT systems.
PVT systeem installed at Beaufort Court at Kings Langley.
The PVT Roadmap describes the state of the art in PVT technology, and gives an overview of commercially available systems and the current and future markets for this technology. It also identifies the benefits of the technology to the various market actors (manufacturers, policy makers, installers, building firms, energy consultants) and the actions that must be taken to make the large-scale market introduction of PVT systems a success. Points of attention include certification, subsidy rules and building regulations, plug-and-play design, developing design tools, and combination of PVT with other technologies to create an optimised system.
Information:
For more information see the final report ‘PVT Roadmap: a European guide for the development and market introduction of PV-Thermal technology’, which can be downloaded from the website www.pvtforum.org. More information on Beaufort Court at Kings Langley http://res.esbensen.dk/
Contact:
Marco Bakker
ECN Energy in the Built Environment
Tel. +31 (0)224 – 56 80 79
m.bakker@ecn.nl
Rome, 7-8 October 2013
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