Solar Cogeneration of both electricity and hot water maximizes the economic and environmental value of energy derived from the sun within the same solar footprint. Solar Cogeneration system produces as much electricity as photovoltaic (PV) technology allows, then captures most of the remaining energy as hot water, in total exploiting over 75% of the energy incident from the sun. A single solar pan
el serves both functions, making the technology more cost effective than PV or solar hot water (SHW) alone or PV and SHW installed as separate systems. The dual purpose design also increases electrical efficiency from cooling the PV cells and magnifies the environmental benefits, since it offsets more fossil fuel consumption per square foot of installed system. Solar Cogeneration Energy’s advantages are stable energy prices and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The availability of Solar Cogeneration Energy also coincides with peak demand hours.
