INVESTIGATION ON COOLING LOAD COMPONETNT OF PV-WAL

One of the advantages of photovoltaic (PV) integration in buildings is the cooling load reduction effect in summer. After the establishment of the building integrated photovoltaic system on the campus of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University , the heat transfer across the photovoltaic walls have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. This paper reports the preliminary investigation results. The simulation can determine the cooling load component due to the heat gain from PV claddings. Photovoltaic walls for three different locations ( Hong Kong , Shanghai and Beijing) are analyzed as case studies to calculate the cooling load component of a PV-wall. In comparison with the corresponding cooling load component for conventional building walls, the PV integration leads to a cooling load component reduction by 35%-50%. The cooling load reduction can be regarded as cost saving for the solar energy applications.