HYBRID SOLAR PANEL
In the hybrid solar panel, photovoltaic and solar thermal technology join and exchange: solar photovoltaic absorbs solar radiation, while the part that fails to accumulate, the thermal heat, is recovered by an exchanger that increases, in in this way, the electricity production, also making use of the energy dispersed by the photovoltaic panel itself.
What are the benefits of a hybrid solar panel?
The advantages of a hybrid solar panel are inherent in its double potential:
- with a single panel it is possible to obtain the production of energy and the heat necessary to heat the rooms and have the necessary domestic hot water;
- the installation surface is smaller, so it is also suitable for users who do not have much space available to place a photovoltaic system with many modules;
- lower purchase and installation costs, taking into consideration that, in order to have the same benefits as a photovoltaic system, only one hybrid solar panel can be purchased;
- can be used to heat the pool water;
- the hot water temperature allows to reduce and eliminate the snow deposit on the solar panels;
- very low maintenance interventions, as the hybrid solar panel technology is much simpler than a traditional panel;
- reduction of the environmental impact, given the possibility of installing a single hybrid solar panel to obtain the benefits you need for your home.
How work e hybrid solar panels?
Hybrid solar panels consist of photovoltaic modules placed on the absorbent surface of a solar thermal collector, which has the function of cooling the photovoltaic modules to increase their electrical efficiency, equal to about 15-16% more than a traditional panel.
Thanks to the possibility of generating electricity and heating the water of the water service and the rooms, the hybrid solar panels can be integrated into the heating of the house, as for example alternatively or together with heat pumps. The junction of the two collectors (that of the hybrid panel and that of the heat pump) allows for a high electrical output in the collector of the photovoltaic module thanks to the lower one on the cold side of the heat pump and, at the same time, on the hot side, have a useful temperature for home heating and water.
The advantages of the hybrid solar panel come precisely from the cooling potential of the operating temperature. As we have mentioned several times in previous articles and sections of the guide, what reduces the thermal efficiency of a solar panel is the solar radiation itself when it is too high and exceeds 25 °. For this reason, at such a temperature, the electrical efficiency is about 14% of the solar radiation itself: in summer it is possible to obtain the production that is used to heat the house in winter.
What are the advantages of a hybrid system compared to a traditional system?
The advantages of hybrid photovoltaic systems are easily verifiable: they allow to significantly reduce, or completely eliminate, the onerous withdrawals of electricity from the grid. When we withdraw from the grid, in fact, not only the amount of energy produced is charged to the bill, but numerous other fixed and variable cost items associated with the bill are charged: distribution services, dispatching, general system charges, additional, taxes, etc…
All these associated cost items in the bill cause the price of kwh to rise to more than € 0.20-0.25. More than double the actual price of electricity. For this reason it is advisable to minimize withdrawals from the network and at the same time it is advisable to increase the self-consumption share of self-produced energy as much as possible.
Hybrid photovoltaic systems allow, thanks to their optimization of flows and thanks to the storage system with batteries, to maximize the amount of self-consumption, minimizing the expense on the bill.
The system, in fact, by recalling the data of the meters connected to the system, detects photovoltaic production, inputs and withdrawals. Based on these data, the battery management system regulates their charging and discharging processes.
The main mechanism is that when excess photovoltaic power is available, it
is stored in the batteries. On the other hand, when photovoltaic power is not
available, the hybrid system activates the discharge of the batteries, making
the self-produced energy available to the user, bypassing the grid.
HYBRID WITH BATTERY
With the end of the energy account, the new era of photovoltaic (and wind)
systems is that of accumulation in batteries. It is not a question of installing
stand-alone systems, perfectly autonomous and
disconnected from the general electricity grid, but of using cd. hybrid
photovoltaic systems.
These are electricity production plants from renewable sources equipped with a system to accumulate the energy produced during the day to use it at any time there is a need. It is not a question of using only instant self-consumption, therefore, but also "deferred" self-consumption, that is, at a time other than that in which production takes place.
When the batteries are completely discharged, the system, which in any case remains connected to the network like classic systems, will draw directly from the network dispatching. Conversely, when the batteries are fully charged, the energy produced will be fed into the grid and enhanced with the on-site exchange or dedicated collection mechanism. The market for hybrid photovoltaic systems in Italy is a relatively new market that was born and developed above all following the end of the incentives (6 July 2013), to ensure sufficient remuneration and convenience even in the absence of state subsidies on the energy account.