Class project report

TITLE: Study the cooling load Reduction due to roof mounted solar PV
panel and the project evaluation incorporating the associated cooling Load
reduction
By
Index No.
Name

Deadline: 15th October 2014

TITLE: Study the cooling load reduction due to roof mounted solar PV
panel and the project evaluation incorporating the associated cooling Load
reduction

1. Introduction
Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system is the major energy consumer in
buildings. This energy cost increases as the heat gain increases. Heat gain is two types as
external and internal. Many environmental factors such as sunshine, cloud density, humidity
and wind speed all affect to the external energy heat. External energy comes in to the
building by any heat transferring method (i.e. by conduction, convection, or radiation). When
these factors are considered, suns energy that comes by conduction through roof is
significant. Especially in poorly insulated, single story buildings with large surface area such
as warehouses, most of heat enters through the roof.
Increasing of roof insulation, shading and the albedo (or roof reflection) reduce the cooling
load. Well insulated roof reduces the heat entering to the building by conduction. Shade trees
planted near the buildings results in reduction of cooling energy. Another way to reduce heat
that comes through roof is increasing the reflectance of roof to reflect the solar energy by
increasing reflecting properties of the roof. As an example roof is painted using reflecting
color usually in white. When these concepts are applied to the roof, these roofs are called as
cool roofs. A cool roof can be desirable to a building owner for several reasons such as
reducing of energy bills by decreasing air conditioning needs, improving indoor thermal
comfort for spaces that are not air conditioned, and decreasing roof operating temperature,
which may extend roof service life.
Green Building concepts have been developed as solutions for the energy crisis and as
ecofriendly products. Therefore currently most of building tends to fulfill their energy
requirements in their premises itself using alternative renewable energy sources such as solar
and wind without going to national grid. New energy practices such as net metering systems
also have get popular and they also use solar PV panels. Use of solar panels on the rooftops
helps to fulfill the factors discussed above.

2. Problem Statement
Currently solar panel projects are evaluated only on the grid electricity that has been offset,
and financially the payback periods are over 6 years. One aspect not considered is the cooling
load reduction that a rooftop mounted solar panel brings in. Since the solar panels will

provide shade to solar radiation falling on the roof, the cooling load is reduced and a study
needs to be carried out to quantify the reduction in cooling load. With the reduction in
cooling load the payback periods of the solar panel is expected to come down. This study
could shed light as to how much cooling load reduction a roof mounted solar panel would
bring in and the project evaluation when cooling load reduction is taken into account.

3. Aim and Objectives

The aim of this research project is to study the cooling load reduction due to roof mounted
solar PV panels and the project evaluation incorporating the associated cooling load
reduction.
Identify the cooling load reduction due to roof mounted solar PV panel
Identify the effect of orientation and the angle of PV panels on the cooling load
Identify the effect of gap between the solar panel and the roof on cooling load
Understand the effect of cooling load reduction as a factor in evaluating of PV panel
project

4. Methodology
Literature survey on relationship of parameters such as roof solar reflectivity,
transitivity etc
Analyzing the documents and identify existing mathematical models connecting to
this heat transfer process
Collecting of roof temperature data from the actual sites (temperature data under PV
panels and exposed roof)
Use of computer based model and doing a simulation on cooling load reduction
Understand the effect of cooling load reduction as a factor in evaluating of PV panel
project

5. Contribution to knowledge
Payback period that is used to evaluate the feasibility of a PV panel project is evaluated
considering only on the grid electricity. Results of this study will add another fact to the
evaluation process of feasibility of PV panel projects. A project that has a higher payback

period is haply given up. It is in vain if such project is given up even though there are factors
without taking in to account, which reduces payback period. Therefore especially result of
this study will benefit for the both user and promoter. Indirectly the society also gets benefits.

6. Supervisors Approval
I, the supervisor for this project, was given a draft of this document and adequate time to go
through it and suggest changes.
Project Title

Submission Date
Student Name/ Index No.
Supervisors Name
Supervisors Signature

Study the cooling load reduction due to roof mounted

solar PV panel and the project evaluation incorporating
the associated cooling Load reduction