Soaring temperatures around the country recently are likely to be doing our rooftop solar systems damage.
According to CSIRO Newcastle’s Next Generation Photovoltaics team leader Greg Wilson, most mono and poly-crystalline silicon solar photovoltaic systems use technology around 30 years old.
“They reach their maximum efficiency at about 25 degrees and become less efficient as the temperature soars,” said Dr Wilson.
‘‘On a day where it’s 30 degrees in the shade, the surface temperature of the rooftop is actually 60 degrees.”
According to Dr Wilson many solar PV systems on a hot day could see a decrease in electrical output of more than 14 per cent.
In Newcastle Dr Wilson and a collection of CSIRO researchers are developing the next generation of solar PV cells.
The dye-sensitised and organic-based polymer PV’s have an ideal operating temperature of between 55 to 60 degrees and an increase of 10 per cent in electrical output.
The new generation of PV solar cells will be available for Australian customers in around five to 10 years.
