Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rser

A review on exergy analysis of solar electricity production MARK

a c c b,c,⁎
Fatih Bayrak , Nidal Abu-Hamdeh , Khaled A. Alnefaie , Hakan F. Öztop
a
Department of Mechanical Education, Technical Education Faculty, Firat University, TR-23119 Elazig, Turkey
b
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technology Faculty, Firat University, TR-23119 Elazig, Turkey
c
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Engineering Faculty, King Abdulaziz University, 80204 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: The increasing installed area of solar technologies around the world gives us an idea about the unlimited
Exergy potential available in solar energy. Solar light and thermal energy can provide sufficient electricity needed in
Solar electricity daily life. In additionally, photovoltaics, photovoltaic/thermal, concentration photovoltaic, concentration solar
Photovoltaic power and solar thermoelectric have been developing for energy conversion. The main aim of the present study
Concentrated solar power
is to make comprehensively review on exergy analysis and performance assessment of a wide range of solar
electricity production. Exergy can be used to assess and improve energy systems, and can help better
understand the benefits of utilizing green energy by providing more useful and meaningful information than
energy provides. After that the studied systems are exergetically analyzed and evaluated solar electricity includes
photovoltaics (PVs) and hybrid (PV/Twater or PV/Tair) solar collectors. The advantages and disadvantages of
these systems will be presented on exergy concept. The CSP systems, the systems with nanofluid and PCM were
exhibited.

1. Introduction 2. Brief theory

Renewable energy sources are one of the effective solutions to get
long-term actions such as clean energy for energy sustainability. They
offer many advantages such as environment-friendly, inexhaustible and
clean energy. Among these resources, solar energy is as an useful,
cheap and environmental friendly renewable source. In recent years,
the electricity production from the solar energy becomes very popular
due to decreasing of their investment cost. The main tools to produce
solar energy to electricity are photovoltaics (PVs) and concentrated
solar power systems. Also, the combination of PV with different types
of systems such as air or water heating plays an important role in
energy producing.
As well as known from the thermodynamics that the exergy is
evaluation of the maximum useful work which can be done by a system
interacting with an environment at constant pressure and temperature.
It is an important tool to evaluate the efficient usage of the solar
electricity producing systems by using second law (exergetic) of
thermodynamics.
The main aim of this work is to make a presentation on exergy
analysis of solar electricity production from different renewable
technologies. Thus, one can make a decision to use effective systems
or can make a research and development study to produce an
innovative more effective product.
The exergy is a thermodynamic state function that permits the
ideally maximum available section of any form of energy to be
determined, without violating the first and second laws of thermo-
dynamics. In other words, the exergy is a value of ambience impact to
the transport of energy and the thermodynamic in efficiencies within
the components. In additionally to exergy, it is more related with
ecological and environmental evaluation through Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) and industrial ecology. Therefore, exergy represents
the maximum possible work that can be obtained along a reversible
process constrained to its environment. For this aim, the environment
is assumed to be free of irreversibility and having uniform intensive
properties [1,2]. The exergy analysis identifies the causes, locations and
magnitude of the system inefficiencies and provides the true measure
how a system approaches to the ideal [3].
There are different ways to produce electricity from the solar
energy. Thus, a classification of electric production systems are needed
for solar energy is given in the Fig. 1. As seen from the figure, solar
radiation is used mainly in three different ways as Thermal Production
(TP), Electric Production (EP) and Electric and Thermal Production.
The brief theory is presented here to show the first and second laws
calculation of solar electricity production systems.

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: faith.bayrak@gmail.com (F. Bayrak), hfoztop1@gmail.com (H.F. Öztop).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.012
Received 16 June 2016; Received in revised form 1 February 2017; Accepted 3 March 2017
Available online 08 March 2017
1364-0321/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
F. Bayrak et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770

Nomenclature d destroyed
elec electrical
A area of collector (m2) in input
Ex exergy (W) m module
FF fill factor (dimensionless) out output
hca heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) sun sun
hconv convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) sky sky
hrad radiative heat transfer coefficient (W/m2 K) therm thermal
Im current at the maximum power point (A) PV photovoltaic
Isc short circuit current (A) PV / T photovoltaic/thermal
Is solar radiation (W/m2)
T temperature (K) Greek letters
U overall heat loss coefficient (W/m2 K)
Q heat emitted to the surrounding (W) η energy efficiency (dimensionless)
Qo power output (W) ψ exergy efficiency (dimensionless)
Voc open circuit voltage (V) ε emissivity of the module
Vm voltage at the maximum power point σ Stefan Boltzmann constant (W/m2 K)
v wind velocity (m/s) φ volume fraction

Subscripts Abbreviations

a ambient ExPI Exergy Performance Index

cell cell NOCT Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (°C)

2.1. Energy analysis 2.2. Exergy analysis

The main output of the PV panel may be defined as given below Exergy analysis contains a consideration of energy quality or capability.
The overall exergy balance of photovoltaic (PV) can be expressed as follows
Qo = VocIscFF (1)
∑ Eiṅ = ∑ Eout
̇ (4a)
where Voc is open circuit voltage, Isc is short circuit current and FF is fill
factor. The fill factor can be given as below:
∑ Eiṅ = ∑ Eout
̇ + ∑ Eloss
̇ + ∑ Eirreversibility
̇ (4b)
VI
FF = m m This corruption in the quality of energy is called exergy loss. The
VocIsc (2) exergy loss is also called irreversibility. Exergy efficiency of the PV
The energy efficiency of PV is defined as ratio between the open module is described as the proportion of total output exergy to total
circuit voltage with short circuit current and the solar radiation on the input exergy [4–6] as
photovoltaic surface. Exoutput
ψPV =
VmIm Exinput (5)
η=
IsA (3) Input exergy of a PV system includes only solar radiation intensity

Fig. 1. Classification of electric production systems from solar energy.

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F. Bayrak et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770

Table 1 Eẋ elec = VmIm (11a)

Notable events in the history of photovoltaics [8].
or
Historical development Year
Exelec = VocIscFF (11b)
Photovoltaic effect was found by Becquerel 1839
Smith was discovered photo conductivity in selenium 1873
The thermal exergy of the system is described as the heat loss from
Adams and Day showed photovoltaic effect in selenium 1877 the photovoltaic surface to the environment which can be given as
Fritts developed first functional PV by using selenium with 1% efficiency 1883 below [7]:
Planck proposed quantum of light 1900
Wilson proposed quantum theory of solids 1930 ⎛ T ⎞
Mott and Schocttky developed solid state theory 1940
Eẋ therm = ⎜1 − a ⎟Q̇
⎝ Tcell ⎠ (12)
Transistor was founded by Barden, Brattain and Schockley 1949
Charpin, Puller and Pearson found silicon cell efficiency to 6%. 1954 where
The cadmium sulfide cell is designed by Reynolds et al. 1954
Hoffman Electronics has developed an 8% efficient silicon PV cell. 1957 Q̇ = hcaA(Tcell − Ta ) (13)
PV panel was used firstly in Vanguard 1 satellite 1958
Hoffman development of PV with efficiency of 14%. 1960 hca = 5.7 + 3.8v (14)
The New South Wales University, 20% efficient silicon PV cells were 1985
developed. where hca is heat transfer coefficient and v is the wind velocity.
Applied Solar Energy developed 19% efficient two-junction PV cells. 1989
Spectrolab, developed a PV with efficiency of 40% 2006 ⎛ T ⎞
NREL, developed a PV with efficiency of 40,8% 2008 The using Eqs. Eẋ PV = VmIm − ⎜1 − a ⎟hcaA(Tcell − Ta )
⎝ Tcell ⎠ (15)
Spectrolab developed a PV with efficiency of 41,6% 2009
If Eqs. (7) and (15) are substituted in Eq. (5), it is arranged as
below:
⎛ T ⎞
exergy as below [6]: VmIm − ⎜1 − T a ⎟hcaA(Tcell − Ta )
⎝ cell ⎠

⎡ 4⎤
ψPV =
4⎛T ⎞ 1⎛T ⎞ ⎛ T ⎞
Exin = AI ⎢1 − ⎜ a ⎟ + ⎜ a ⎟ ⎥ ⎜1 − Ta ⎟IsA
⎢
⎣ 3 ⎝ Ts ⎠ 3 ⎝ Ts ⎠ ⎥⎦ ⎝ s⎠ (16)
(6)

or the input exergy is calculated as follows Exergy of electricity is taken into account for a PV system which is
accepted as exergy of the system. The negative sign in Eq. (17)
⎛ T ⎞ indicates the heat transfer to environment. The exergy efficiency is
Eẋ in = ⎜1 − a ⎟IA
⎝ Ts ⎠ (7) given for a PV/T system as

where Ts is the temperature of sun which is taken as 5777 K. The exergy ⎛ T ⎞

VmIm + ⎜1 − T a ⎟hcaA(Tcell − Ta )
output of the photovoltaic systems can be expressed as follows: ⎝ cell ⎠
ψPV / T =
⎛ T ⎞
Eẋ out = Eẋ elec + Eẋ therm + Eẋ d = Eẋ out + I ′ (8) ⎜1 − Ta ⎟IsA
⎝ s⎠ (17)
where
As seen from this equation, exergy of a PV/T system is given as the
I′ = ∑ Eẋ d = Eẋ d ,therm + Eẋ d ,elec (9) collection of thermal and electricity exergies.

which includes both internal and external losses.
Eẋ elec = Eelec − I ′ = VocIsc − (VocIsc − VmIm )
in above equation, VocIsc represents the electrical energy and
(VocIsc − VmIm ) represent the electrical exergy destruction. Using Eq.
(10) found the electrical exergy as below:
3. Historical development of PV and PV/T systems
(10)
In the year of 1839, the French scientist Alexandre Edmond
Becquerel discovered the photo-electric effect while carrying out
electro-chemical experiments. In 1873, the British engineer
Willoughby Smith and his assistant Joseph May found that semicon-

Fig. 2. Classification of the photovoltaic/thermal collectors.

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F. Bayrak et al.
ductor selenium show photoconductivity. After about three years later,
William Adams and Richard Day found the photovoltaic effect in
solidified selenium and published a paper on the selenium cell. In the
1905, Albert Einstein published a paper explaining the photoelectric
effect on a quantum basis.
Renewable energy (RE) resources have a great potential and they
can meet the electricity and thermal energies for mankind. These
sources can enhance the diversity in energy supply markets, secure
long-term sustainable energy supply and reduce local and global
atmospheric emissions. One of the most promising RE technologies
can be given as photovoltaic (PV) technology. These systems are
popularly configured as stand-alone, grid-connected and hybrid sys-
tems. During the 1960s, research and development was mainly
concentrated on the space industry due to the higher cost of solar
cells. Table 1 shows the historical development of photovoltaic cells.
In the photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system applications, the pro-
duction of electricity is the main mission of the PV cell. The PV/T
systems can be used mainly for low temperature applications such as
space heating, water or air preheating and natural ventilation in
buildings. The PV/T water collectors are also practical systems for
water heating in domestic buildings but their application has been
limited up to now due to commercialization problem. The PV/T air
collectors have already been applied in buildings, usually integrated on
their inclined roofs [9]. The classifications of these PV/T collectors are
shown in Fig. 2.
Efficiencies (electricity, exergy and thermal) of present PV/T
collectors are still low. Thus, heat transfer enhancement techniques
can be applied to the PV/T. In this context, Khan and Arsalan [10]
investigated the different solar power technologies as a review article
which can be utilized for the global sustainable electric power genera-
tion. They have discussed on photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar
power (CSP) technologies. Arulraj and Chawdhry [11] studied on the
exergy analysis of different solar systems which are as photovoltaic,
solar thermal devices, solar water desalination system, solar air
conditioner and refrigerator, solar drying process and solar power
generation. Also, this study presented the summary of exergy analysis
Fig. 3. Cross-sections of PV/T air collectors (a) air flow above the solar cell, (b) air flow below the solar cell, (c) double pass, (d) both above and below of solar cell, (e) unglazed single
pass.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770
and exergy efficiency along with the exergy destruction. Chow [12]
reviewed the theoretical and experimental studies of photovoltaic/
thermal technologies starting from the 1975. He has evaluated
commercial development, various and marketing potential of PV/T
collector systems who is been expected the more successful of PV/T
technologies. Hepbasli [4] made a review paper about exergy analysis
and performance evaluation for a large area of sustainable and renew-
able energy sources such as solar collector application, photovoltaic,
photovoltaic/thermal systems, wind energy systems and other renew-
able energy sources. Kumar and Rosen [13] investigated the commer-
cial markedly and combining the solar thermal and PV technologies to
provide the opportunity for increased efficiency and expanded utiliza-
tion of the solar energy. Also, their work included the photovoltaic/
thermal solar collectors for air heating. They found that the simulation
for new design is better results according to earlier works. Saidur et al.
[14] made a review on different thermal systems as photovoltaic, solar
heating application, solar water desalination system, solar air con-
ditioning and refrigerators, solar drying system and solar power
generation. They concluded that thermal efficiency is not sufficient to
choose the desired system. The studied effective parameters on the
exergy efficiency were mostly mass flowrate, inlet temperature and
time. As a further finding, they shown that the exergy efficiency of solar
systems is highly dependent on the daily solar radiation and radiation
intensity.
3.1. PV/T air collectors
PV/T air collectors are a type of hybrid collectors that which
produce both electricity and hot air simultaneously. Thus, it brings
many benefits from the investment and location point of view. These
types of collectors can be classified based on the air-flow types. These
are classified with respect to the air flow above the absorber, below the
absorber, unglazed and on both sides of the absorber in single and in
double pass. The applications of PV/T air collectors are classified in the
Fig. 3 from (a)–(e). The first aim of these collectors is to get electricity
and then hot air. Thus, they tried different positions to increase heat
F. Bayrak et al.
Table 2
Energy and exergy efficiencies for all studied systems [15].
PV cover (%) PV position η (%)
25 Beginning 69.91
Center 68.61
End 68.60
50 Beginning 65.06
Center 64.74
End 64.68
75 Beginning 59.79
Center 59.78
End 59.73
100 54.29
transfer from surface to air.
As shown in the Fig. 3, the engineering philosophy looks like heat
exchanger in these types of collectors. Thus, design of these systems is
completely related with the optimization of heat transfer. Gholampour
and Ameri [15] experimentally and theoretically investigated the PV/T
flat transpired systems. They found that increasing of PV coverage has
a negative effect on the first law of efficiency but a positive effect on the
second law of efficiency. Results for energy and exergy efficiencies are
shown in Table 2. As seen from the table, the highest and the lowest
exergy efficiencies were found the PV coverage percent 100 with 8.66
and PV coverage percent 25 for beginning with 4.35, respectively.
According to actual exergy gain, a critical radiation level was defined.
As an appropriate tool, equivalent thermal efficiency was used to find
optimum suction velocity and PV coverage percentage. The cross-
section of the PV/T air system is shown in Fig. 4 from Ref. [15].
Dimensions and area of collectors play the most important role on
energy and exergy efficiencies in PV/T systems. Agrawal and Tiwari
[16] studied the energy and exergy analysis of micro and single channel
photovoltaic thermal collector for different weather condition. Also, an
overall annual gain in energy, exergy and exergy efficiency of micro-
channel photovoltaic thermal (MCPVT) have been evaluated by con-
sidering for different cities as Srinagar, Bangalore, Jodhpur and New
Delhi in India. Additionally, the four types of weather conditions are
described as Type A (clear days), Type B (hazy days), Type C (hazy and
cloudy days) and Type D (cloudy days). They have been found that an
overall annual thermal and exergy gains have been increased by
70.92% and 60.19%, respectively. These are valid for MCPVT module
for Srinagar climatic conditions. Thus, schematic model of MCPVT is
presented in Fig. 5 as given in Ref. [16].
The glazed PV/T air module was studied as experimentally and
Fig. 4. The schematic diagram of PV/T collector [15].
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770
ψ (%)
4.46
4.36
4.35
5.83
5.81
5.80
7.23 Fig. 5. View at of the micro-channel solar cell thermal (MCSCT) [16].
7.22
7.21
8.66 exergoeconomic analysis by Agrawal and Tiwari [17]. Experimental
set-up is shown in Fig. 6 from Ref. [17]. The results showed that the
annual overall thermal energy and exergy gain are 1252.0 kW h and
289.5 kW h, respectively. The net annual electrical energy savings by
glazed hybrid PVT module air collector is 234.7 kW h. Actually, authors
can enhance this exergy gain by using different passive elements inside
the collectors.
Unglazed Transpired Collectors (UTCs) capable of combining with
PV panels are designed by Gholampour et al. [18]. They performed
their tests in Shahid Bahonar University in Kerman, Iran. In their
work, the performance of the PV/UTC and UTC systems are performed
based on the first and the second law efficiencies. They showed that
mounting of PV panel on the UTC can result in photovoltaic cooling,
depending on the mass flowrate value of the air passed through the
transpired plate. Also, the results show that the electrical-to-thermal
rational and exergetic analyses are very important to design PV/UTC
systems. Heat transport way of the fluid is an effective parameter on
exergy efficiency in different types of collectors.
Tiwari and Agrawal [19] made a comparative analysis for different
cases of PV/T air collector and it is applied in terms of overall thermal
energy and exergy gain, exergy efficiency and carbon credit earned by
Fig. 6. General view of glazed PV/T collector [17].
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F. Bayrak et al.
Fig. 7. Comparison chart on the basis of monthly variation of overall exergy efficiency
for Srinagar climatic condition [19].
different case of PV/T air collectors. These collectors are namely called
as (a) unglazed PV/T, (b) glazed PV/T, and (c) conventional PV/T.
Their results showed that overall annual thermal energy and exergy
gain of unglazed PV/T is higher by 27% and 29.3% respectively. For the
glazed PV/T collectors energy and exergy efficiencies are calculated as
61% and 59.8% respectively as compared to conventional PV/T
collector. Also, the overall exergy efficiency for these three cases of
PV/T air collector is presented in Fig. 7 from Ref. [19]. These figure
clearly shows that the highest exergy efficiency is formed for the case of
unglazed PVT case. All values have minimum at june due to higher
solar radiation.
Rajoria et al. [20] carried out a work for different conditions of
photovoltaic/thermal arrays. In their work, the PV/T array is series and
parallel combinations of 36 numbers of PV modules. These conditions
are Case I (4 columns each having 9 PV modules in series are
connected in parallel), Case II (9 rows each having 4 PV modules in
series are connected in parallel), Case III (2 integrated columns each
having 18 PV modules in series are connected in parallel) and Case IV
(3 integrated rows each having 12 PV modules in series are connected
Fig. 8. Flow configuration for (a) Case-I, (b) Case-II, (c) Case-III, (d) Case-IV [20].
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770
in parallel) as shown in Fig. 8 from Ref. [20]. They have concluded that
configuration under case-II gives better result in terms of overall
thermal energy gain, which is 12.1% higher than case-III. However, the
overall exergy gain for case-III is 12.9% and it is higher than that of
case-II. Therefore, condition under case-III is a better selection in
comparison to other cases in terms of high grade energy. Their
condition is presented in Fig. 9 as given in Ref. [20]. This figure shows
the variation of exergy with time and for different cases. The figure
gives that the highest exergy value is obtained for Case III and the
lowest one for Case IV. Differences among cases changes according to
time. The highest exergy value is formed at the mid of the day as
expected.
Agrawal and Tiwari [21] focused on a space heating system
combined with electricity production and general viewed of the
building integrated photovoltaic thermal (BIPVT) system in Fig. 10
as given Ref. [21]. They determined the PV performances, net energy
gain and exergy of the building. Their results showed that the system
connected in series gives a better performance for a constant mass
flowrate of air. On the contrary, the system connected in parallel gives a
better performance for a constant velocity of air flow. Their system
produces an annual electrical and thermal exergies as 16,209 kW h and
1531 kW h with an average overall thermal efficiency of 53.7%.
Nayak and Tiwari [22] performed an energy and exergy analysis for
the prediction of performance of a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T)
collector integrated with a greenhouse at IIT, Delhi, India. They
performed a numerical computation which is carried out for a typical
day only for validation. They obtained that the theoretical value of solar
cell, tedlar back surface and greenhouse room air temperatures is
approximately equivalent to the experimental values. The predicted
and measured values of solar cell, tedlar back surface and greenhouse
air temperatures have been verified in terms of root mean square of
percent deviation (7.05–17.58%) as well as correlation coefficient
(0.95–0.97). In their work, the exergy efficiency is observed as 4%.
Dubey et al. [23] made an analytical study for (N=1, 4 and 8) hybrid
photovoltaic/ thermal (PV/T) air collectors connected in series. The
performance of collectors is evaluated by considering the two different
F. Bayrak et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770

Fig. 9. The overall exergy for Delhi climatic requirement in the month of January for
different condition of PV/T arrays (modified) [20].

cases, namely, Case I (air flows above the absorber plate) and Case II
(air flows below the absorber plate) as given Fig. 11. They found that
the Case II gives better results in terms of thermal energy, electrical
energy and exergy gain.
Joshi and Tiwari [24] made a work on evaluation of exergy analysis
of a hybrid photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) parallel plate air collector for
cold climatic condition of India (Srinagar) which is illustrated in Fig. 12
as given Ref. [24]. Based on the data four climatic conditions (clear, Fig. 11. Cross-sectional view of air collectors (a) air flows above the absorber plate (b)
hazy, hazy-cloudy and cloudy days) have been defined. The perfor- air flows below the absorber plate [23].

mance of a hybrid PV/T air collector has been studied energy and
exergy efficiencies. They observed that an instantaneous energy and
exergy efficiency of PV/T system air heater varies between 55–65% and
12–15%, respectively.

3.2. PV/T liquid collectors

Similar to flat plate collector water heating system, liquid photo-

voltaic thermal (PV/T) collectors are used to heat up the water and
simultaneously electricity production for various domestic and indus-
trial applications. A typical PV/T water collector is constructed by
attaching PV to the thermal absorber using thermal paste with high
conductivity, welding or mechanical force. Depending on the local
climate and temperature conditions, an optional glazing can be added
on top of the PV to form an extra stagnant air layer to increase thermal
gains. [25,26] They thought these systems for residential heating. Fig. 12. Schematic diagram of PV/T system [24].
These systems are general view in Fig. 13 from Ref. [27].
Wu et al. [28] made detailed parametric study by varying relevant
parameters based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
Their results demonstrated that the overall thermal, electrical and
exergy efficiencies of the heat pipe PV/T hybrid system corresponding
to 63.65%, 8.45% and 10.26%, respectively. They produced a heat pipe

Fig. 10. Perspective view of the BIPVT systems [21]. Fig. 13. Construction of a PV/T water collector [27].

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Fig. 14. The schematic of photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system (modified) [28].

Fig. 15. Simplified front view of the PV/T prototype [30].

PV/T hybrid system and the schematic view of PV/T system as shown
in Fig. 14 which is given in Ref. [28]. The overall thermal, electrical and
exergy efficiencies of heat pipe PV/T hybrid system could reach up to
63.65%, 8.45% and 10.26%, respectively.
Mishra and Tiwari [29] made energy and exergy analysis of hybrid
photovoltaic collectors for constant temperature mode. The analysis
has been carried out in terms of thermal energy, electrical energy and
exergy gain for two different configurations, namely, case A (collector
partially covered by PV module) and case B (collector fully covered by
PV module). They found that the annual overall thermal energy gain is
decreased by 9.48% and an annual overall exergy gain is increased by
39.16% from collector partially covered by PV module to collector fully
covered by PV module.
The Second Law analysis of thermodynamics for a water-cooled Fig. 16. Cross-section view (part plan) of PV/T collector with flat-box absorber and
PV/T collector is studied by Evola and Marletta [30]. This work multi-water channel design (modified) [32].
demonstrated that there is an optimum water inlet temperature which
maximizes the total exergy generated by the system. Their system is
presented in Fig. 15 as given in Ref. [30]. As a result, a thermo-
economic analysis is carried out to define the price of the thermal
energy produced by the PVT collector, as a function of its exergy
content.
Yazdanpanahi et al. [31] studied the exergy efficiency of a solar
photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) water collector is investigated both
experimentally and numerically. They made an experiment to obtain
exergy efficiency of a solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) water collector
system. They measured many parameters such as solar radiation
intensity, wind speed, ambient temperature, solar cells temperature,
fluid inlet and outlet temperature, open circuit voltage and short circuit
voltage etc. They observed that the optimum value of the mass flowrate
in which exergy efficiency has maximum value 13.95% for 0.002 kg/s.
Chow et al. [32] made a comparison of effects of glass cover on PV/
T collectors. They studied on energy and exergy analysis of these
systems. They observed that exergy efficiency of the glazed collectors
are better than that of unglazed one. On the contrary the exergetic
efficiency of the unglazed condition is better than of glazed condition.
Cross-section and general views PV/T collectors have been shown in
Figs. 16 and 17 respectively. Fig. 17. A photograph of PV/T collectors with and without glass covers [32].

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The schematic view of PV/T collector as shown in Fig. 18 from [31].

They observed that the overall exergy efficiency initially increases and
then starts decreasing indicating the optimum value of flow rate of
0.006 kg/s as reported earlier. But leakage can be a big problem in
these kinds of systems.
Sobhnamayan et al. [34] studied the performance of a solar
photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) water collector based on exergy concept.
They developed a computer simulation program to obtain the amount
of thermal and electrical parameters. They obtained maximum exergy
efficiency as 11.36%.
Saitoh et al. [35] performed field measurements from November
1998 to October 1999 at a low energy house at Hokkaido University.
The power generated was measured by giving the variable load for the
maximum power point tracking. In their work, two hybrid solar panels
were connected in parallel, while the brine was supplied at constant
temperature by a fluid supply system with a circulating pump. The
tilt angle of the panel was 30°, which gave the maximum annual
Fig. 18. Schematic diagram of an integrated PV/T system [33].
global irradiance. Except for winter, the mean conversion efficiency
of array and the collector efficiency were stable at 8–9% and
25–28%, respectively. The dependency on solar energy was 46.3%.
Energy and exergy efficiency values of single-junction crystalline
Table 3 silicon PV are illustrated in Table 3 from Ref. [35]. The exergy
Comparison of energy and exergy efficiency values of solar collector, photovoltaic and efficiencies of solar collector, PV and hybrid solar collector were found
hybrid collector [35].
to be 4.4%, 11.2% and 13.3%, respectively. In terms of energy quality,
Type of efficiency Solar collector Photovoltaic Hybrid the hybrid solar collectors are more effective than that of conventional
collector systems.
Fujisawa and Tani [36] studied on a PV-thermal hybrid collector on
Energy efficiency (η, %)
their university campus. They constructed a collector with a liquid
Heat 46.2 – 32.0
Power – 10.7 10.6 heating flat-plate solar collector with mono-Si PV cells on substrate of
Total 46.2 10.7 42.6 non-selective aluminum absorber plate. They found that the PV/T
collector could produce higher output density than a unit PV module or
Exergy efficiency (ε, %) liquid heating flat plate solar collector. Using exergetic evaluation, the
Heat 4.4 – 2.1
best performance of available energy was found as 80.8 kW h/yr, the
Power – 11.2 11.2
Total 4.4 11.2 13.3 second one is PV module at 72.6 kW h/yr, the third single covered PV/
T collector at 71.5 kW h/yr. Finally, the worst one is the flat plate
collector that it 6.0kWh/yr.
Table 4 is illustrated studies published works on PV and PV/T
Glass technology is developing to produce high efficiency collectors. collectors for different parameters and show that thermal efficiency of
In this context, authors focused to effects of glass on collectors. Tiwari these collectors can reach up to 80% and energy efficiency around 53%.
et al. [33] worked on analytical expression for the water temperature of As shown from Table 4 that numbers of studies of exergy analysis on
an Integrated Photovoltaic Thermal Solar (IPVTS) as a novel concept. PV technologies are very low. As seen from the table, the maximum

Table 4
List of recent studies regarding to energy and exergy efficiencies at the photovoltaic and photovoltaic/thermal collectors.

Authors Methodsa Study Flowrates (kg/s) Max. cell temperature Area of PV modules Efficiencies (%)
(°C) (m2)
Thermal Electric Energy Exergy

Gholampour and Ameri T-E PV/T air 0.0215 m/s ~60 0,451 ~80 69.91 8.66
[15]
Gholampour et al. [18] E PV/T air 0.009 and ~65 0.451 ~72 ~6.8
0.0215 kg−1 m−2
Tiwari and Agrawal [19] T PV/T air 0.0108 ~57 0.61 ~15 ~18
Nayak and Tiwari [22] T-E PV/T air NA ~80 0.605 ~4
Evola and Marletta [28] T PV/T 80 (kg/h)/m2 ~42 2.63 ~70 ~12 ~14
water
Yazdanpanahi et al. [30] T-E PV/T Between 0.001 and 0.51 ~30 0.767 13.95
water
Chow et al. [32] T-E PV/T 0.81 ~55 ~25
water
Tiwari et al. [33] T PV/T 0.006 0.009 0.012 ~48 0.52 ~53 ~9.2
water
Bayrak et al. [37] E PV 52,64 0.5159 9.77 2.51
Sudhakar and Srivastava E PV NA 0,4037 8.5
[54]
Joshi et al. [57] E PV 57.6 0.605 ~15
Sahin et al. [59] E PV ~57 NA 12 8

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F. Bayrak et al.
Table 5
List of recent studies regarding to annual overall gains at the photovoltaic and photovoltaic/thermal collectors.
Authors Methodsa Study Flowrates (kg/s)
Agrawal and Tiwari T PV/T air 0.000036
[16]
Agrawal and Tiwari T-E PV/T air 0.0113
[17]
Rajoria et al. [20] T PV/T air 0.001935
Agrawal et al. [21] T PV/T air 1.2
Dubey et al. [23] T PV/T air 0.0113
Mishra and Tiwari [29] T PV/T water Between 0.01 and
0.04
Vats and Tiwari [53] T PV
a
T: Theoretical, E: Experimental.
energy efficiency is obtained as 12%. Exergy analysis is also good tool to
obtain PV's performance. Table 5 exhibits the recent studies on annual
overall gains for PVs and PV/T collectors according to parameters of
flowrates, maximum cell temperature and area of PV modules. In this
table exergy values are exhibited as kWh. The most important para-
meter for this value is module area. The highest exergy gain is formed
for PV/T air collector by Rajoria et al. [20].
3.3. New generation PV/T
Photovoltaic thermal collector is a new hybrid technology that
produces heat and electricity simultaneously. The flat plate photovol-
taic thermal (PVT) collectors can be classified into the type of working
fluids. However, low thermal conductivity of the working fluids has
always been the primary limitation in the development of energy-
efficient heat transfer fluids, and higher collector performance. In this
section, the effects of using nanofluid and phase change materials
(PCM) on the performance of the PV/T system are examined [38,39].
Khanjari et al. [38] analyzed the effects of nanofluid in PV/T
collectors. Working base fluid is chosen as pure water, Ag-water
nanofluid and alumina-water nanofluid. They observed that addition
of nanoparticle makes positive effect on energy and exergy efficiencies
and higher efficiency is formed for Alumina-water than that of Ag-
water. They also compared their result with numerical works and they
found an agreement between them.
About the nanofluid studies in solar energy systems, there is still
problems on nanofluids such as agglemoration and sedimentation.
Thus, it is difficult to get a commercial product on solar electricity
production systems.
Shamani et al. [39] tested under the Malaysia tropical climate
conditions at the performance of PV/T collector. The PVT collector
consists of specially designed rectangular tube absorber (stainless steel
material, height of 15 mm, width of 25 mm and thickness of 1 mm)
attached under the photovoltaic module. The PVT collector was
experimentally tested with different types of nanofluids (SiO2, TiO2
and SiC). The results indicated that the PVT collector with SiC
nanofluid has the highest combined photovoltaic thermal (PVT)
efficiency of 81.73% and PVT electrical efficiency of 13.52% with the
best overall energy coefficient of 0.93 has been achieved at a flow rate
of 0.170 kg/s and solar irradiance levels of 1000 W/m2, followed by
PVT-TiO2 nanofluids, PVT-SiO2 nanofluids, and PVT-water respec-
tively.
Hassani et al. [40] made a study on exergy efficiency and
environmental effect of photovoltaic and PV/T collectors. They also
investigated the effects of nanofluid on PV/T systems as shown in
Fig. 19. The maximum exergy efficiency is obtained as 11.7% with
M-3 and M-5 models. These system is presented in Fig. 19 as given in
Ref. [40].
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770
Max. cell temperature Area of PV modules Annual overall gains (kW h)
(°C) (m2)
Thermal Electric Exergy
~105 0.0144 450 150
67.6 0.605 1252 287.6 289.5
~60 0.61 ~45,000 1690.5 ~20,000
NA 65 m2 18,062 1182 1531
~70 0.605 m2 for N=1 1175 625 751
NA 0.605 5098.8 1377.63 (net) 1562.4
49 5.44 ~800
Michael [41] worked a novel PV/T was constructed by laminating a
copper sheet directly to the silicon cell, thereby reducing the thermal
resistance and its performance was improved by using copper oxide –
water (CuO/H2O) nanofluid. From the experimental setup, it was
observed that the nanofluid made a significant improvement in the
thermal performance compared to water. A novel photovoltaic thermal
collector was fabricated and its performance was tested using 0.05%
volume fraction CuO/water nanofluid. The nanofluid has been proved
to increase the thermal efficiency up to 45.76%. Their condition is
presented in Fig. 20 as given in Ref. [20].
Khanjeri [42] investigated the effects of utilizing nanofluid on the
performance of PV/T system. The considered coolant fluids in the
simulation are pure water, Ag-water nanofluid and Alumina-water
nanofluid. The proposed model includes a water riser tube and an
absorber plate to consider the conduction and convection heat transfer
mechanisms. The numerical results were obtained using the computa-
tional fluid dynamics (CFD) by employing conjugate heat transfer. The
effects of the nanoparticle volumetric concentration and inlet fluid
velocity on the efficiency and heat transfer enhancement were simu-
lated. In this paper, the Second Law analysis of a water-cooled PVT is
also represented, based on results of simulations. The results show that
the efficiencies (the first and second laws of thermodynamics) and heat
transfer coefficient increase by increasing the nanoparticle volume
fraction which are illustrated variation of exergy efficiencies in Figs. 21
and 22 as given in Ref. [42].
Sardarabadi [43] experimental investigated the effects of simulta-
neous use of a ZnO/water nanofluid and a phase change material
(PCM) as coolant mediums for a photovoltaic (PV) fluid/nanofluid
based collector system. Results show that in the PCM/ nanofluid based
collector system, the average electrical output is increased by more
than 13% compared to that of the conventional PV module. Based on
the results of an exergy analysis, the simultaneous use of both a
nanofluid and the PCM for the cooling system, increases the overall
exergy efficiency of the system more than 23% compared to that of a
conventional PV module. Fig. 23 shows the exergy efficiencies of PV/T
systems.
In several studies, nanofluids are accepted as single phase and it is
thought that it affects only heat transfer. Thus, it affects the exergy
efficiencies in PV/T systems.
Sardarabadi [44] worked the effects of using nanofluid as a coolant
on the thermal and electrical efficiencies of a PV/T. Coolant fluids in
the experiments are pure water and silica (SiO2)/water nanofluid 1%
and 3% by weight (wt%). The exergetic viewpoint it was observed that
by adding a thermal collector to a PV system, the total exergy for the
cases of pure water 1% silica/water nanofluid and 3% silica/water
nanofluid were increased by 19.36%, 22.61% and 24.31%, respectively.
Also, the electrical exergy for these four case of PV/T systems are
presented in Fig. 24 as given in Ref. [44].
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F. Bayrak et al.
Fig. 19. Sketch of the PV/T hybrid system for the four studied configurations; (a) M-2 and M-3, (b) M-4 and M-5 [40].
3.4. Concentrating solar power and photovoltaic
Concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies use different mirror
configurations to concentrate the sun's light energy onto a receiver and
convert it into heat. The heat drives a thermo-dynamic cycle, in most
cases a water-steam cycle, to generate electric power [45]. Their
numbers are increased both in scientific studies and commercial works.
A thorough investigation of experimental and theoretical CSP
studies in the literature has not been much found energy and exergy
analysis. The categorize CPVT technologies in the literature and
commercial systems are shown in Fig. 25 from [46].
Fig. 20. Overall efficiency of the PV/T collector [41].
765
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770
Xu et al. [47] investigated as theoretically the energy and exergy
analysis of the solar power tower system. Also, the energy and exergy
losses in each component and in the overall system are calculated. They
made a comparison of solar power tower on the basis energy and
exergy efficiencies in Fig. 27 from [47]. The results show that the
maximum exergy loss occurs in the receiver system, followed by the
heliostat field system, although main energy loss occurs in the power
Fig. 21. Variation of exergy efficiency versus inlet fluid velocity for alumina-water
nanofluid (φ =5%), Ag-water nanofluid (φ =5%) and pure water [42].
F. Bayrak et al.
Fig. 22. Variation of exergy efficiency versus volume fraction for alumina-water and Ag-
water nanofluids [42].
Fig. 23. Exergy efficiency of the different systems modified from Ref. [43].
Fig. 24. Daily average electrical exergy of PV and PV/T systems. (Case A: PV, Case B:
PV/T pure water, Case C: PV/T silica/water nanofluid 1 wt%, Case D: PV/T silica water
nanofluid 3 wt%) modified from Ref. [44].
cycle system. Finally, they found that the overall exergy efficiency
increases from 24.5% to 25.6%. The schematic of solar power tower as
given in Fig. 26 as shown from [47].
Singh et al. [48] theoretical analyzed of first and second law analysis
for a solar thermal power system. The analysis and results can be used
for evaluating the component irreversibilities which can also explain
the deviation between the actual efficiency and ideal efficiency of a solar
thermal power system. They found that the energy and exergy values
%12.07 and %12.743 respectively (Fig. 27).
Abu-Hamdeh and Alnefaie [49] analyzed as experimental and
simulink the concentrated solar power tower in Saudi Arabia. They
have designed a prototype of solar tower system which uses mirrors for
electricity production from direct to solar energy. General view of
prototype including thermal storage tank, receiver and heat exchanger
is taken Fig. 28 from Ref. [49]. They obtained 13 kW as an output
thermal power from this small CSP prototype.
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770
Barrau et al. [50] worked as experimental the efficiency of a hybrid
jet impingement/microchannel device for cooling a densely packed PV
receiver. This result brings to the fore the requirement of tailoring the
internal geometry of the cooling device to the irradiation profile of a
specified concentration system. Finally, in the range of flowrates and
solar concentration ratios considered in this study, the electrical output
of the CPV receiver has been found to increase with the flow rate and
concentration ratio.
Ceylan et al. [51] performance analyzed of a concentrated photo-
voltaic and thermal system. Thermal and electrical energy gain in the
concentrated and non-concentrated panels which is shown in Fig. 29 as
given in Ref. [51]. They have obtained the maximum temperature at
the back of the panel as 37 °C and the panel efficiency was 11% at mean
solar radiation was 2000 W/m2. The reflection of solar radiation on the
panel was concentrated approximately more than twice. However, as
the current did not increase twice at the same time, the efficiency for
the solar panels is not alone a significant indicator.
3.5. Photovoltaic systems
Exergy concept can be applied for different types of solar electricity
systems. Most of these systems has been done in the field of flat plate
solar collectors. Another popular area of research refers to combined
photovoltaic and thermal collectors in the literature. Fig. 30 illustrates
the classification of PV technologies in this study.
Pathak et al. [52] worked on the optimization limit of solar roof
access by exergy analysis for three systems as solar thermal, photo-
voltaic and hybrid photovoltaic thermal systems. They simulated the
problem for three different locations as Detroit, Denver and Phoenix at
different solar flux. They showed that PV/T systems out performance
the PV/T systems by 69% for all the locations, produce between 6.5%
and 8.4% more exergy when matched against the purely PV systems
and created 4 times as much exergy as the pure solar thermal system.
Fig. 31 presents the annual exergy of systems at the different cities.
Vats and Tiwari [53] studied the energy and exergy analysis of
photovoltaic systems integration to the roof of a room. They have been
applied to the six different photovoltaic (PV) modules. Their result
indicated that better energy and exergy was obtained by the systems as
given Fig. 32 from Ref. [53].
Sudhakar and Srivastava [54] investigated the thermal, electrical
and exergy output of a PV panel. They found that the energy and exergy
efficiencies various between 6–9% and 8–10% during the day, respec-
tively. In additionally, the exergy efficiency of PV module increases
initially with increase in solar radiation intensity and then decreases
after attaining maximum point.
Saloux et al. [55] performed exergy analyses of photovoltaic (PV)
and photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) systems. They studied on energy and
exergy balances are combined to identify the different sources of exergy
losses involved in both thermal and electrical energy fluxes.
Akyuz et al. [56] investigated the variations of exergy efficiency for two
cases using actual experimental data obtained from an installed PV system
in Turkey. A new computer program is written by using the Matlab-
Simulink software environment for data analysis. Subsequently, all the
results are provided for the purpose of comparison.
Joshi et al. [57] investigated the performance characteristics of a
photovoltaic (PV) and photovoltaic-thermal (PV/ T) system based on
energy and exergy efficiencies, respectively. They applied to exergy
analysis of a PV system and its components to evaluate the exergy
efficiency. They also determined the values of “fill factor” are also
determined for the system and the effect of the fill factor on the
efficiencies is also evaluated.
Park et al. [58] presented literature review on both the energy and
exergy analyses of typical renewable energy systems including, solar
thermal, solar photovoltaic and biomass cookstove.
F. Bayrak et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770

Fig. 25. Classification of CPVT technologies (modified) [44].

Fig. 26. General view of a solar power plant [47].

Fig. 27. Comparison of exergy efficiency for different solar power plant [47].

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F. Bayrak et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770

Fig. 28. General view of concentrated solar power system [49].

Fig. 31. Standard deviation of annual exergy of the systems (modified) [52].

Fig. 29. Comparison of electrical energy gain at the concentrated and non-concentrated
PV systems [51].

Fig. 30. Classification of photovoltaic technologies.

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F. Bayrak et al.
Fig. 32. Annual overall energy and exergy of six PV modules (modified) [53].
Fig. 33. The relation between the emissions and sustainable index with increasing of
exergy efficiency [58].
4. Effect of the exergy on energy systems
The use of exergy is described as a measure for identifying and
explaining the benefits of sustainable energy and Technologies. Exergy
can be used to assess and improve energy systems, and can help better
understand the benefits of utilizing green energy by providing more
useful and meaningful information than energy provides. Exergy
clearly identifies efficiency improvements and reductions in thermo-
dynamic losses attributable to more sustainable technologies. Exergy
can also identify better than energy the environmental benefits and
economics of energy technologies. Measures to increase energy effi-
ciency can reduce environmental impact by reducing energy losses.
Within the scope of exergy methods, such activities lead to increased
exergy efficiency and reduced exergy losses (both waste exergy emis-
sions and internal exergy consumptions). But there are additional ways
by which exergy can help understand and reduce environmental impact
[60].
Fig. 33 the relationship between the emissions and sustainable
index with increasing of exergy efficiency. Increasing of exergy
efficiency increases the sustainability index. On the contrary, emissions
are decreases with increasing of exergy efficiency. And, there is a cross-
section point around 50% of exergy efficiency.
5. Conclusions
A reviwal work has been done in this study to discuss the
application of exergy method to solar electricity production systems.
The main findings can be drawn from this review work as
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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 74 (2017) 755–770
• Production of electrical energy from solar technology is becoming
more popular in recent years due to its advantages such as clean
energy and increasing of efficiency with decreasing investment cost.
• Exergy analysis is also an effective tool to analyze the effectiveness of
PV/T systems.
• In recent years, hybrid solar collectors are becoming more popular
due to their usefullness for many applications.
• Still efficiencies of PV systems are low. Thus, CSP systems can be
more suitable from the electricity production point of view even
though its high cost.
• In recent years, PV/T collectors made an attack for useful energy to
produce both electricity and heat water or air.
• Comparison of energy sources shows that the higher exergy effi-
ciency can be obtained from SGSS (up to 95%) and the lowest one is
formed for central receiver (55.5%). Overall exergy efficiency can be
obtained around 26%.
• The highest annual exergy production is formed for HIT around
800 kW h and the lowest one is formed for a-Si as 350 kW h.
• Exergy efficiency of PV/T system [54,57,59] is two times higher than
that of PV system. As an expected results exergy efficiency of PV/T
(air) collectors is lower than that of water and it obtains around
10%.
• Contructal structure of collectors is highly important on exergy
efficiency and the highest overall exergy efficiency is formed for
unglazed PVT collectors around 17% [19]
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by the National Plan for Science,
Technology and Innovation (MAARIFAH)–King Abdulaziz City for
Science and Technology-the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia–award number
(12-ENE2253-03). The authors also, acknowledge with thanks Science
and Technology Unit, King Abdulaziz University for technical support.
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