ANU re-inventing the solar hot water system.

Have they got Pat Pending upon it?

chewy14 said :

Haven’t they been doing this for like a decade with the CHAPS system?

Is that system still running? Doesn’t seem to do much tracking these days …

But from the small amount of information, I think this might be different. Note the “spectral splitting” bit. The CHAPS system just seemed to use the water to cool the cells, which helps with efficiency (silicon PV works better at lower temperatures), and so was a by-product to some extent.

Spectral splitting sounds like they’re doing something clever to deliver the frequencies of light the solar PV can actually use, and using the rest of the spectrum to heat water. Or something.

Hybrid solar pv/thermal systems already exist, but they seem to mostly work the same way as CHAP, removing heat from the panels.

Haven’t they been doing this for like a decade with the CHAPS system?

A single hybrid solar system that does both hot water and electricity? Brilliant! Particularly given the often limited north-facing roof space people have.

Doing some great work there at ANU Prof Blakers!

You can use my roof to trial it.