A novel approach for estimation of photovoltaic exergy efciency

E. Akyuz
a
, C. Coskun
b
, Z. Oktay
b,
*
, I. Dincer
c
a
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Balikesir University, Balikesir, Turkey
b
Energy Systems Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Rize, Turkey
c
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), 2000 Simcoe St. N., Oshawa, ON L1H 7K4, Canada
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 13 December 2011
Received in revised form
14 March 2012
Accepted 14 April 2012
Available online 30 May 2012
Keywords:
PV
Exergy efciency
Energy efciency
Solar energy
a b s t r a c t
In this study, a novel approach is proposed to determine the maximum amount of exergy from the sun
when applied to a conventional photovoltaic (PV) system in order to formulate its exergy efciency. The
variations of exergy efciency are investigated for two cases using actual experimental data obtained
from an installed PV system in Turkey. A new computer program is written in the Matlab-Simulink
software environment for data analysis. Subsequently, all the results are provided for the purpose of
comparison. The results provided in the study are expected to be benecial for researchers, designers and
engineers working on PV energy systems and their performance assessment.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Concerns regarding global warming as a potential result of
greenhouse gas emissions caused by fossil fuel-based energy
sources have motivated many researchers to study cleaner and
greener energy options such as photovoltaic (PV) systems for
various applications [1]. In the past, high investment rate was
a signicant obstruction for consumer PV prices, which dropped
fromUS$30eUS$2.5 per Win last 30 years. Currently the cost of the
best PV system process is around $2e$2.5/Wp [2]. During the last
decade, the number of PV applications increased and they extended
to industrial use throughout the world. Advances in the area of PV
technologies have also led to its increased usage.
An exergy analysis has proven to be a powerful tool in the
simulation thermodynamic analyses of energy systems and it has
been used in the design, simulation and performance evaluation of
energy systems. This analysis shows the possibilities for improve-
ments in terms of thermodynamics and cost aspects [3]. Dincer [4]
reported the linkages between energy and exergy, exergy and the
environment, energy and sustainable development, as well as the
energy policy making and exergy in detail. He provided the
following key points in order to highlight the importance of exergy
and its essential utilization in numerous ways: (a) it is a primary
tool best in addressing the impact of energy resource utilization on
the environment. (b) It is an effective method using the conserva-
tion of mass and the conservation of energy principles together
with the second lawof thermodynamics for the design and analysis
of energy systems. (c) It is a suitable technique for extending the
goal of more efcient energy-resource use, for it permits the loca-
tion, type, and the true magnitude of wastes and losses to be
determined. (d) It is an efcient technique revealing whether or not
and by how much it is possible to design more efcient energy
systems by reducing the inefciencies in existing systems. (e) It is
a key component in obtaining sustainable development.
Although numerous studies [5e12] were conducted on the
energetic analysis and the performance evaluation of solar energy
systems using energy analysis method and are available in the
literature, very limited resources [13e15] are available regarding
the exergy analysis of solar energy systems, especially the PV
system. Sahin et al. [13] obtained the exergy components and the
PV array exergy efciency, as well as comparing the efciencies of
energy and exergy together with the electrical efciencies under
given climatic and operating conditions. Joshi et al. [14], proposed
equations and ran the necessary calculations based on a given
experimental data for the energy, exergy and electrical efciencies
of a PV system. The experimental validation of the thermal model of
a PV module integrated with a solar air collector, which was
developed by Joshi et al. [15], showed that the PV module
temperature could be controlled and reduced by changing the mass
ow rate of air in the solar collector, and consequently the ef-
ciency of the PV module could be increased.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 90 464 311 10 71; fax: 90 464 311 10 72.
E-mail addresses: akyuz11@gmail.com (E. Akyuz), dr.can.coskun@gmail.com
(C. Coskun), zuhal.oktay@gmail.com (Z. Oktay), ibrahim.dincer@uoit.ca (I. Dincer).
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Energy
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ energy
0360-5442/$ e see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.energy.2012.04.036
Energy 44 (2012) 1059e1066
There is a limited number of studies on the efciency of solar
conversion [16e18] in the literature. Zamrescu and Dincer [19]
proposed a new approach for obtaining the exergy content as the
maximum amount of work from solar radiation incident on the
Earth and to accommodate the effect of uctuating weather
conditions when the intensity of radiation is high. The present
study differs from the previous ones due to the fact that a novel
approach to calculate exergy efciency is developed based on the
study of Ref. [19]. In addition, the results obtained here are
compared with the ndings of other studies in the literature. In this
aspect, the study provides an improved denition for solar photo-
voltaic efciency based on exergy.
2. Data collection
The meteorological measurement system connected to the PV
test system was installed in the Balikesir University Campus at the
end of 2008. The amount of global solar irradiation, wind speed,
ambient temperature, cell temperature, voltage and current were
collected by the Campbell Scientic Datalogger System (CR800)
and were employed in further modeling analysis. The data on wind
speed, ambient temperature and global solar radiation that were
collected throughout a year were demonstrated in Figs. 1e3. Wind
speed and ambient temperature at 10 m of height varied between
0 and 11 m/s and 5 and 41, respectively for the investigated year.
As it may be observed in Fig. 3, the solar radiation varied between
0 and 900 W/m
2
and the annual total global solar radiation amount
was measured as 1401.6 kWh/m
2
y.
Matlab-Simulink Software was used as the platform for the
simulations of the system. The photovoltaic systemconsisted of the
following major components: the photovoltaic array, the maximum
power point tracker (MPPT), batteries and system load. The sche-
matic representations of both the measurement system and the
Simulink model are given in Fig. 4.
Fig. 1. Wind speed time series for a particular year.
Fig. 2. Ambient temperature distribution for a particular year.
E. Akyuz et al. / Energy 44 (2012) 1059e1066 1060
3. PV efciency
3.1. Energy efciency
The energy efciency of a PV system is dependent upon four
parameters, namely; the global solar radiation (S
t
), the PV area (A),
the maximum voltage (V
m
), and the maximum current (I
m
). The
energy of a PV system may be dened by the following equation:
h
PV

V
m
$I
m
S
t
$A
(1)
The change in the energy efciency of the investigated PV
system with respect to the solar radiation and the ambient
temperature is given in Fig. 5. The maximum electricity production
(P
m
) for the tested PV module is determined through an experiment
and using the equation given below:
P
m
S
t
; T
a
11:017 0:34$S
t
$2:73
0:003$Ta
(2)
where S
t
is global solar radiation (W/m
2
). The temperature value is
given in Kelvin.
3.2. Exergy efciency
In order to obtain the exergy efciency of the PV system, the
exergy input and output should be known. The exergy output rate
may be calculated using the following equation:
Ex
out
Ex
elec
Ex
therm
Ex
dest
(3)
which includes both the internal and the external losses. Internal
loss is the exergy destruction rate (Ex
dest
), and external loss is the
heat loss rate (Ex
therm
). In order to calculate the electrical exergy
rate of the PV system (Ex
elec
), it is assumed that the exergy content
received by the photovoltaic surface is fully utilized in order to
generate the maximum electrical exergy rate (V
oc
,I
sc
). This may be
calculated as
Ex
elc
V
m
$I
m
(4)
The thermal exergy rate of the system (Ex
therm
) consisted of the
heat loss from the photovoltaic surface to the ambient and may be
represented in terms of the thermodynamic analysis as follows:
Ex
therm

1
T
0
T
cell

$Q (5)
Fig. 3. Global solar radiation distribution for a particular year.
Fig. 4. Experimental system and its Matlab-Simulink simulation.
E. Akyuz et al. / Energy 44 (2012) 1059e1066 1061
where T
0
and T
cell
represent the reference ambient temperature and
the PV cell temperatures, respectively. The convective heat transfer
rate is denoted as Q and may be calculated using the following
equation;
Q h
c
$A$T
cell
T
0
(6)
h
c
5:7 3:8$v (7)
The thermal exergy of the PV systemis based on ve parameters,
namely; the convective heat transfer coefcient (h
c
), wind speed (v),
cell temperature (T
cell
), outdoor temperature (T
0
) and the PV area
(A). The exergy rate of the PV system may be dened as follows;
Ex
PV
V
m
$I
m

1
T
0
T
cell

$h
c
$A$T
cell
T
0

(8)
The maximum exergy rate extracted from the solar radiation
may be obtained through the following equation;
Ex
solar

1
T
0
T
S

$S
T
$A (9)
where T
S
is the temperature of the sun, which is assumed as 5762 K
in the study. S
T
represents the global solar radiation. The PV system
exergy efciency (
PV
) may be expressed using the following
equation;

PV

V
m
$I
m

1
T
0
T
cell

$h
c
$A$T
cell
T
0

1
T
0
T
S

$S
T
$A
(10)
3.3. New approach for exergy efciency
3.3.1. New approach for the calculation of the exergy efciency
The four consecrated ways to account for solar conversion
effectiveness are given as h
P,ideal
by Petela [16], h
S,ideal
by Spanner
Fig. 5. Effect of global radiation and ambient temperature on investigated PV energy efciency.
Fig. 6. Variation of new approach PV exergy efciency with global solar radiation for an investigated year.
E. Akyuz et al. / Energy 44 (2012) 1059e1066 1062
[17], h
J,ideal
by Jeter [18] and h
ZD,ideal
by Zamrescu and Dincer [19]
in the literature. Zamrescu and Dincer proposed a new approach
to obtain the exergy content as the maximumamount of work from
solar radiation incident on the Earth and to accommodate the effect
of uctuating weather conditions when the intensity of radiation is
high. The ideal conversion effectiveness of solar radiation (h) may
be obtained through the following equations:
h
J;ideal
1
T
0
T
S
(11)
h
ZD;ideal
1
T
0
T
S
$
S
sc
S
T0
(12)
The maximum limit of the work extracted from solar radiation
may be obtained through the following equation:
E
00
s
h$S
T0
(13)
Here, S
T0
and S
sc
parameters may be obtained through the following
equations [18]:
Fig. 7. Effect of global solar radiation, ambient temperature and wind speed on investigated PV exergy efciency.
Fig. 8. Change of ambient and cell temperature for a sample day.
Table 1
Calculation procedure on a sample day in June.
Time (h) T
0
(

C) v (m/s) S
T
(W/m
2
) S
T0
(W/m
2
) h
P
() E
}
s
(W/m
2
) V
m
$I
m
(W) h
c
(W/m
2
K)
PV
(%)
Classical New
7:30 17.5 0.40 289.3 1032 0.9330 963 34.6 7.22 10.40 3.30
8:30 21.3 2.27 459.0 1053 0.9334 983 61.7 14.31 9.67 4.84
9:30 22.4 0.37 670.6 1054 0.9332 984 85.7 6.71 11.29 7.54
10:30 24.1 0.13 796.8 1272 0.9444 1202 105.1 6.21 11.34 7.48
11:30 27.9 0.80 919.0 1166 0.9385 1094 116.2 8.74 10.31 8.26
12:30 29.1 3.60 941.0 1076 0.9331 1004 120.6 19.38 6.53 5.93
13:30 30.4 0.53 910.0 996 0.9274 923 117.8 7.73 10.54 10.22
14:30 31.5 0.13 831.0 892 0.9187 820 105.0 6.21 11.07 10.92
15:30 32.3 0.13 702.4 788 0.9077 715 86.9 6.21 11.06 10.59
16:30 31.8 0.93 513.5 638 0.8862 565 61.0 9.25 10.30 9.17
17:30 28.4 0.40 318.5 474 0.8485 402 34.9 7.22 10.07 7.94
18:30 26.1 0.40 129.8 296 0.7595 225 6.4 7.22 3.65 2.51
E. Akyuz et al. / Energy 44 (2012) 1059e1066 1063
Fig. 9. Changes of PV exergy efciency, wind speed, ambient temperature and global solar radiation.
E. Akyuz et al. / Energy 44 (2012) 1059e1066 1064
S
T0

S
T
cos q
i
(14)
S
sc

1 0:033$cos

360

n
365:25

$S
0
(15)
where S
0
1373 W/m
2
and n represents the day of the year. For
instance, n 1 on January1st, while n 365 on the 31st of
December. S
T0
is the total amount of normal radiation. S
T
is the
amount of measured radiation and q
i
represents the incidence
angle. The maximum exergy extracted from the solar radiation in
the PV system may be obtained through the following equation:
E
00
s

1
T
0
T
S
$
S
sc
S
T0

$S
T0

S
T0

T
0
$S
sc
T
S

(16)
The exergy efciency of the PV system in the novel approach
(
PV,na
) may be obtained through the following equation:

PV;na

V
m
$I
m

1
T
0
T
cell

$h
c
$A$T
cell
T
0

S
T0

T
0
$S
sc
T
S

$A
(17)
The variation in the PV exergy efciency obtained using the
novel approach with respect to the global solar radiation was
investigated for a particular year and it is given in Fig. 6. The PV
exergy efciency decreases with an increase in the ambient
temperature and the wind speed. The change in the exergy ef-
ciency of the investigated PV system with respect to the solar
radiation, the ambient temperature and the wind speed was given
in Fig. 7. For windy days, the PV exergy efciency increases with an
increase in global solar radiation until it reaches the maximum
point and then it decreases.
4. Results and discussion
The PV energy efciency decreases with an increase in the
ambient temperature. Ambient temperature has a great effect on
the temperature of the cell. In this study, the actual data and the
Matlab-Simulink model cell temperature values were determined
and compared. The change in the temperature of the cell with
respect to the ambient temperature is given in Fig. 8 for a sample
day.
In order to illustrate how to utilize Equations (1)e(17), we
employ certain experimental data which were measured on
a typical day in June by an installed PV system in the Balikesir
University. Certain terms required for the calculation of the exergy
efciency pertaining to a sample day in June are given in Table 1.
The exergy efciency of the PV system was calculated using the
novel and the classical approaches and the results were compared
in Fig. 9. The changes in wind speed and ambient temperature
against solar radiation are presented for a selected sample day in
Fig. 9. As it may be seen in Fig. 9, wind speed is an important
parameter for the calculation of exergy efciency and has a nega-
tive effect on the exergy efciency of the PV system.
Hour of the day and the location of the sun have an effect on the
maximum exergy in the novel approach. The novel approach could
produce a more reliable view of the exergy efciency.
5. Conclusions
This has been the rst study in the open literature to dene the
PV exergy efciency in terms of the location of the sun and time. A
novel approach was proposed where the incidence angle and the
day of the year were considered as parameters for the calculation of
the PV exergy efciency. The concluding remarks of this study are
given below:
Exergy efciency generally partakes lower values in the novel
approach than in the classical one. However, both approaches
may take the same value under certain special conditions
between 11:00 and 14:00 oclock during the day.
The highest exergy efciency may be achieved via attaining
lower wind speed and outdoor temperature, as well as higher
global solar radiation. Higher global solar radiation and lower
outdoor temperature is preferred also for energy efciency. The
effect of wind speed on energy and exergy efciency of a PV
system is different. As it may be seen in Equation. (7), the
convective heat transfer coefcient increases with an increase
in wind speed. As a result of this increase in convective heat
transfer, the exergy of the PV system decreases.
The exergy efciency of a PV systemincreases with global solar
irradiance for lower wind speeds. As the wind speed increases,
the trend in exergy efciency changes.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the nancial support
provided by Balikesir University Research Project (BAP) under
Grant No. 2008-20.
Nomenclature
A Area (m
2
)
Ex Exergy rate (kW)
E
00
S
Maximum limit of work extracted from solar radiation
(W/m
2
)
h Heat transfer coefcient (W/m
2
K)
I Current (A)
n Day of the year ()
P Electricity production (W)
S
T0
Total amount of normal radiation (W/m
2
)
S
T
Global solar radiation (W/m
2
)
T Temperature (K)
Q Heat transfer rate (kW)
v Wind speed (m/s)
V Voltage (V)
Greek letters
h Energy efciency ()
Exergy efciency ()
q
i
Incidence angle (
o
)
Subscripts
a Ambient
c Convective
dest Destruction
elec electrical
m Maximum
na Novel approach
PV Photovoltaic panel
s Sun
sc Short circuit
therm thermal
oc Open circuit
out Output
0 Reference state
E. Akyuz et al. / Energy 44 (2012) 1059e1066 1065
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