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Photovoltaic/Thermal Systems: Advances and Contribution to the Development of Renewable Energy Communities

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A2: Solar Energy and Photovoltaic Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 3 April 2024 | Viewed by 991

Special Issue Editors

Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models, University of Palermo (UNIPA), 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: thermal science; energy system modelling and optimization; exergy analysis; exergoeconomics; power plants; refrigeration and air-conditioning systems; heating and cooling network
Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models, University of Palermo (UNIPA), 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: renewable energy systems; seasonal thermal energy storage; integrated hybrid energy solutions; neural network applications; environmental and economical assessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Engineering, University of Palermo (UNIPA), 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: renewable energies; solar energy, efficient lighting; building physics; energy planning; building automation systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models, University of Palermo (UNIPA), 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: renewable energy systems; solar energy; concentrating solar power systems; thermal energy storage; geothermal systems; heat transfer modeling in porous media; energy system modelling and optimization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change and the energy crisis are the major challenges faced in today’s world. The exploitation of renewable energy sources together with the implementation of energy efficiency measures are well-recognized solutions to these challenges. In particular, the urgent need to increase the contribution of renewable energy resources has been guiding research on designing new technologies to exploit these clean and free energy sources.

Solar energy is recognized as the most promising energy source due to its availability on Earth throughout the year. Different types of solar technologies have been proposed to harvest the maximum possible energy and convert it into electricity and/or heat: from photovoltaic to concentrated solar power, and from solar thermal collectors to hybrid collectors. Among them, photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) collectors are of a great importance because they can produce heat and electricity simultaneously, leading not only to a higher energy conversion per unit of the installed area but also to environmental benefits compared to a separate production approach. To provide scientific communities with a track on the recent advances in the field of PV/T systems, this Special Issue aims to collect studies focused on: 

  • New techniques for enhancing the energy performance of this technology.
  • Modeling of PV/T systems’ operation based on experimental data.
  • Modeling for forecasting the energy and heat production from PV/T systems via machine learning approaches.
  • Provision of performance maps to easily detect variation in the power-to-heat ratio with boundary conditions.
  • Integration with buildings and energy storage systems (either thermal or electric).
  • Selection of the optimal sizing and operation strategies of PV/T systems while accounting for the features of final users (such as residential, tertiary, industry, and agriculture) and geographical locations.
  • Provision of control strategies for the coordinated operation of PV/T systems with other facilities of the same products, such as power-to-heat technologies or other cogeneration units.
  • Environmental and economic analysis of PV/T systems.

In addition, this Special Issue will consider papers focused on the contribution of PV/T systems in the development of renewable energy communities. It is widely recognized that to achieve renewable energy communities, it is not sufficient to install a new capacity but instead to provide means for an easy share of the produced energy flows (both electricity and/or heat) among different consumers. In this respect, papers focused on solutions for sizing and operating PV/T systems in this context will be welcomed.

Finally, please note that other research studies on the proposed topic which were not explicitly accounted for in the previous list will be also considered.

Dr. Pietro Catrini
Dr. Stefania Guarino
Dr. Marina Bonomolo
Dr. Alessandro Buscemi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • solar energy technology
  • photovoltaic/thermal collectors
  • renewable cogeneration systems
  • renewable sources for energy communities
  • integrated storage systems
  • machine learning approaches for RES

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 5755 KiB  
Article
Solar Photovoltaic Cooker with No Electronics or Battery
by Antonio Lecuona-Neumann, José I. Nogueira-Goriba, Antonio Famiglietti, María del Carmen Rodríguez-Hidalgo and Jean Boubour
Energies 2024, 17(5), 1192; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17051192 - 02 Mar 2024
Viewed by 556
Abstract
The paper offers innovative cooking utensil designs for remote, isolated, and even peri-urban communities at a low price, with high reliability and simple construction. It can alleviate energy poverty and improve food security. This utensil uses only local solar energy directly and allows [...] Read more.
The paper offers innovative cooking utensil designs for remote, isolated, and even peri-urban communities at a low price, with high reliability and simple construction. It can alleviate energy poverty and improve food security. This utensil uses only local solar energy directly and allows comfortable indoor cooking. This paper provides the design principles of a solar cooker/frying pan or generic heater, based on a PV panel or a plurality of them, which are directly connected to a plurality of Positive Thermal Coefficient (PTC) resistors to match the power. PTCs are nowadays produced in massive quantities and are widely available at low cost. The proposed device does not require an electronic controller or a battery for its operation. The aim is for family use, although the design can be easily scaled to a larger size or power, maintaining its simplicity. Electric heating inside or attached to the cooking pot, plus the temperature self-limiting effect of PTCs, allows for thermally insulating the cooking pot from its outside using ordinary materials. Insulation enhances energy efficiency during cooking and keeps cooked food warm for a long time. Clean development would receive a significant impulse with its application. A simple mathematical model describes its functioning and states guidelines for adequate design. Its results indicate a successful proof of concept and high efficiency both for water and oil as representatives of cooking. Full article
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