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Particular-Lake5856 t1_jdysg60 wrote

Its only 20% electrical output, about the industry standart.

The rest is Thermal output, they combined solar electricity and solar heat in one pannel.

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KikeRC86 t1_jdyye44 wrote

This is not entirely clear in the article. So they use solar heating for, for example, hot water while using the PV for energy production? It’s not a bad idea, the water cools down the PV so they’re kinda killing two birds with one stone.

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Sirisian t1_jdz1i7x wrote

Interesting. So if you had a bunch of these and used like a 35% efficient steam turbine without any other losses in the piping that's 20% + 35% * 60% = 41%. That seems extremely high though, so it seems wrong to me. That would match some of the most expensive solar panels used for satellites.

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JeremiahBoogle t1_jdz57nt wrote

I think it would be meant for solar water heating in the house, it won't be hot enough to drive a steam turbine.

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SandAndAlum t1_je4owx4 wrote

Working at a high enough temperature to make an efficient heat engine run would almost certainly make the PV performance worse or destroy it.

This will be low grade heat for space or water heating. Possibly applicable to chemic process or electrolysis too (heat can reduce the electricity needed to just splitting the molecule). Might be able to use the electricity to upgrade the heat using a heat pump for chemical use, although you're unlikely to beat a heliostat which is much simpler.

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