Heat Recovery Potential From PV Modules : A Simulation Case Study for a Swedish Residential Building Cluster

Photovoltaic thermal collectors (PVT) can generate electricity and heat from one module. In a typical aerothermal PVT system, the air flow behind the PV modules is created using air channels, and the heated air is ducted to the point of usage. The central aim of this paper is to simulate a system where the recovered heat from a PV installation is utilized in the energy system of a multifamily building cluster in Sweden. The paper tends to establish if the additional cost of “heat recovery system” components justify the savings obtained due to recovered heat from PV. To achieve this, a simulation model is built in TRNSYS for a multi-family building cluster in Sweden. Specifically, two energy system configurations are simulated.1) Recovered heat from PV collectors is used for pre-heating of domestic hot water.2) Heat from PV collectors is used at the evaporator of an air source heat pump to increase its performance. The heat pump is further used to generate domestic hot water.Results show that the advantage of PVT integration is more pronounced when recovered heat is used directly for pre-heating of DHW. The savings are lower when PVT is coupled with heat pump.ES