CO2 Mitigation Potential of Opaque and Semi-transparent Photovoltaic Thermal (PVT) Array with Triangular Duct

Carbon credit is a major parameter relating the cost and magnitude of mitigation of CO2 in the environment. The paper investigates the CO2 emissions and carbon credit earned by photovoltaic thermal (PVT) array having triangular duct. The analysis involves the calculation based upon overall thermal energy and exergy output of both opaque and semi-transparent PVT arrays having a triangular duct. The PVT array consists of 14 PVT modules connected in such a way that 7 PVT modules are in series and 2 are in parallel for both the cases. The weather monitoring station located on the top of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Engineering College Bikaner (India) contributed the data used in this analysis. The annual overall thermal energy gain for opaque and semi-transparent PVT array is 11,429.34 kWh and 12,568.27 kWh, respectively. The annual overall exergy gain opaque and semi-transparent PVT array is 2879.8 kWh and 32.7.9 kWh, respectively. The CO2 mitigation potential of semi-transparent PVT array is 11.4% higher than opaque PVT array. However, based on overall annual thermal energy and exergy gain, the monetary benefit is correspondingly higher by 9.9% and 11.3%, respectively.