STUDY OF FLOATING PV’S FLOATER EFFECT ON HEAT TRANSFER AND ELECTRICITY CONVERSION EFFICIENCY

• Main Author: Alfarisi, Salman
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/72649
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Solar energy is one of sustainable energy sources due to its unlimited, accessible, and eco-friendly. However, the limitedness of land is the critical problem in solar power plants development. Floating photovoltaic (PV) is one of the innovative solutions to over-come this problem. The addition of HDPE floater below the PV module causes the PV float above the water surface. There are several floater types with different heat release spaces, each different spaces impact on heat transfer aspect. Inhibition of heat transfer from PV to the environment by small heat release spaces on structure will increase the PV temperature. In consequence, the PV efficiency will decrease. There are three structures reviewed in this report with different sizes of heat release spaces, namely large-gap floating structures, narrow-gap floating structures, and PV ground placed on concrete as comparison reference. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations on the three structures has been per-formed to estimate the effect of the heat release space, PV temperature and radiation flux of the bottom surface of the PV. The experimental analysis was conducted as a simulation validation by comparing the PV temperature of the three structures. Experimental result showed that the working temperature of the PV installed in the large-gap floating structure decrease 4.91 °C & 9.61 °C at the top and bottom of the PV compared to the PV installed at ground. The working temperature at the top and bottom of the PV installed in the large footprint floating structure is 2.27 °C & 1.52 °C lower compared to the PV installed at ground, due to the higher concrete surface temperature compared to the water and plywood as the material of floater’s cantilever. Furthermore, the decrease in temperature lead to an increase 2,46 W & 2,51% in power and efficiency of the PV installed at large-gap floating structure compared to the PV installed at ground. Other case, the PV installed in large foot-print floating structure has an increase 0,78 W & 0,95% in power and efficiency compared to the PV installed at ground. The results showed that the large-gap floating structure more effectively dissipates heat from PV to the environment compared to the narrow-gap floating structure. Moreover, large-gap floating structure more effectively generate electricity than the narrow-gap floating structure.