Investigating the Effect of Radiative Cooling on the Operating Temperature of Photovoltaic Modules

Due to the linear decrease in power conversion efficiency with temperature, effective methods for the thermal management of silicon photovoltaics (PV) are urgently needed. Recently, the emergence of radiative cooling technologies has breathed new life into this topic. Some previous studies claimed the value of an additional radiative cooling coating on silicon solar cells, whereas quantitative analysis based on comprehensive experiments and modeling is still not available in literature to give an explicit conclusion. After developing the coupling electrical–thermal model for simulating various cases and conducting field experimental tests, herein, it is aimed to clarify the effect of radiative cooling on the temperature of normally installed PV modules and influence of factors such as thermal convection and thermal emissivity. Results show that the increased thermal emissivity results in only an average temperature drop of less than 1.0 °C, whereas the ventilation conditions have an impact of over 10 °C. The simulation study also demonstrates that a limit of around 2.0 °C in temperature reduction is all the value of an additional radiative cooling coating on PV modules. To make an additional radiative cooling coating on existing PV panels cost effective, the work suggests developing multifunctional coatings in the future.