Review on photovoltaic/thermal hybrid solar collectors: Classifications, applications and new systems

Abstract The continuous aggravation of environmental pollutions and the rapid increase in the conventional sources of energy price advocated scientists to search for solutions such as heat recovery and continual sources of energy. One of the most distinguished types of renewable energy is solar energy which is neat, free and environmentally friendly renewable energy. Indeed, there are several solar energy systems that need to be studied. At the same time, combining solar energy systems is a trend these days which aims to optimize the benefits from solar radiations. Photovoltaic/Thermal (PVT) hybrid solar system is obtained by combining solar thermal collectors and solar photovoltaics to enable a simultaneous generation of electricity and production of heat. The target of this paper is to proffer a review on PVT hybrid solar collectors which comprises the history of PVT hybrid solar systems, main concept, benefits and classifications according to various manners in addition to integration of thermoelectric generators with PVT system.