UK project aims for combined PV and solar thermal system

But even the most efficient solar photovoltaic (PV) devices are typically designed to use only part of the spectrum from the sun’s rays to generate energy, meaning that most of the infrared part of the spectrum is wasted.

Now a UK collaboration, funded by EPSRC and the Department for International Development through Innovate UK, is developing a system that can generate both electricity and high temperature heat from solar energy.

The devices could be fitted to the external walls of high-rise buildings, for example, to provide clean electricity as well as heat for air conditioning, heating and refrigeration.

The project, which includes London-based Palliser Engineers, Swansea University and Cambridge-based Polysolar, will use thin film Cadmium Telluride solar panels to capture infrared frequencies, which will then be concentrated to provide energy for heating and cooling.

Unlike existing solar panels, the device will allow infrared radiation to pass through the Cadmium Telluride photovoltaic cell to a thermal collector behind it, according to Prof Stuart Irvine, director of the Centre for Solar Energy Research at Swansea University.