Abstract
South Africa generates approximately 80% of the country's power from coal-fired power plants. Solar Energy is one of the popular green energy
sources as it is harmless, abundant, renewable, and extensive sources in its application. This requires photovoltaic cells to convert solar radiation
into electrical energy. However, the PV module's standard efficiencies range from 15% to 20%. Such low efficiencies further reduce with every
10C rise in panel surface temperature, equivalent to a 0,45% decrease in the electrical efficiency of standard crystalline silicon cells.
This research emphasizes the need to shift towards Photovoltaic (PV) cell cooling with Phase Change Material (PCM) to enhance its thermal and
electrical efficiency. The research proposes methods of improving the efficiency of photovoltaic cells while preserving energy through
experimental tests and validating the results with Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD Analysis). Two setups were constructed, a PV module with
PCM and a Conventional (Reference) panel, to compare the experimental results and draw conclusions from the data.
Although the experiments were conducted under cold weather during the winter season, the results show a positive trend toward achieving the
objectives. On day one, the PV/PCM system achieved up to 6,96 0C temperature reduction in the afternoon. Days two and three achieved up to
5,5 0C and 4,1 0C, respectively, at 1 pm and 3,92 0C and 3,52 0C, respectively, at 3 pm of temperature reduction. Day five achieved up to 3,3 0C
thermal reduction improvement at 3 pm. It can be deduced from the above results that using the phase change material is evidently improving the
cooling of the photovoltaic cells, enhancing the PV module's efficiency, and extending its life span.