Cost Estimates of Electricity from a TPV Residential Heating System

A thermophotovoltaic (TPV) system was built using a 12 to 20 kWth methane burner which should be integrated into a conventional residential heating system. The TPV system is cylindrical in shape and consists of a selective Yb2O3 emitter, a quartz glass tube to prevent the exhaust gases from heating the cells and a 0.2 m2 monocrystalline silicon solar cell module which is water cooled. The maximum system efficiency of 1.0 % was obtained at a thermal input power of 12 kWth. The electrical power suffices to run a residential heating system in the full power range (12 to 20 kWth) independently of the grid. The end user costs of the TPV components ‐ emitter, glass tube, photocells and cell cooling circuit ‐ were estimated considering 4 different TPV scenarios. The existing technique was compared with an improved system currently under development, which consists of a flexible photocell module that can be glued into the boiler housing and with systems with improved system efficiency (1.5 to 5 %) and geometry. P...