Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) to drive a dual source heat pump (ground and PV cooling): Performance analysis in a real application

A large fraction (more than 80%) of the solar radiation impinging a PV panel is lost. A Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T or PVT) module allows not only to partially recover the otherwise lost heat, but also to cool the PV and increase its electrical efficiency. A retrofitted building located in Northern Italy will be equipped by a PVT dual source heat pump, operating with the ground as source/sink, whereas the PVT drives the heat pump compressor and acts as a dual source. When the heat pump does not need heat or operates for summer air conditioning the ground is the heat sink both for the heat pump and for the PVT cooling. A dynamic simulation allowed to size the plant, revealing high values of heat pump coefficient of performance for the favorable thermal levels of the heat source, and better thermal levels of the ground source that receives heat from the PVT panels when it is not required by the heat pump.Very high efficiency and low primary energy consumption are demonstrated for the whole plant, thanks the high energy independency from the grid.