Active heating of greenhouse integrated semitransparent photovoltaic thermal system with series connected semitransparent photovoltaic thermal air collectors

In order to fulfill the demand for energy and food security, an active heating of a controlled environment greenhouse integrated semitransparent photovoltaic thermal (GiSPVT) system with N-semitransparent photovoltaic thermal (SPVT) air collector for cold climatic conditions has been analyzed in this paper. The proposed SPVT air collectors are connected in series and integrated with GiSPVT. It is used to generate thermal as well as electrical energy to meet the daily requirements of users. Based on the energy balance equation which is a function of design and climatic parameters, an analytical expression for various variable parameters namely plant, room air, and solar cell temperatures have been derived. Numerical computation has been made in Matlab for computing the thermal, electrical, and overall exergy of the proposed system. Based on numerical computation, the following observations have been made: (i) From a thermal point of view, the packing factor (0.5, 0.8) of the semitransparent PV module plays an important role and it must be optimized for maximum thermal heating. (ii) The selection of a number of collector is an important parameter to generate electrical energy as well as thermal heating of GiSPVT room air in an optimum way.