Energy and economic potential of a concentrated photovoltaic/thermal (CPV/T) system for buildings in South Korea

ABSTRACT In this study, a point focused concentrating photovoltaic (CPV/T) system is built and tested for building integration applications. The main focus of this research is to evaluate the economic viability of a CPV/T system as a replacement of electricity and natural gas for building heating. The performance of a CPV/T system for the top floor apartment heating was analyzed under very cold winter condition of South Korea. The apartment heating load was calculated via the EnergPlus？ simulation software. The results show that for some months the CPV/T system can solely meet apartment heating requirements with zero auxiliary energy consumption. By utilizing a CPV/T system for apartment heating instead of using electricity and natural gas, the life cycle savings (LCS) were 2891 $ and 2370 $, respectively. It is also found that by considering 25 years of expected service life of the CPV/T system, its discounted payback period (DPP) based on electricity and natural gas were 12 and 15 years, respectively. It is concluded that the CPV/T system yield the best higher-energy saving efficiency and building heating performance