The effect of different cooling methods for power generation in parabolic solar dish concentrator using thermoelectric generator / Aneurin Nanggar Nyandang

The overuse of fossil fuels over the years has become a worldwide topic. The spike in crude oil prices and the increase of greenhouse effects from burning fossil fuels is the most discussed issues regarding the usage of fossil fuels. Hence, scientists and researchers all over the world has great interest to seek for an alternative. The alternative that can reduce the usage of fossil fuels is renewable energy. Renewable energy is a promising energy because it is clean and infinite. Solar energy, as one of the many renewable energies, is the most simple and available abundantly. For power generation, the solar energy from the sun is collected and converted into electricity. There are two ways to convert the solar energy into electricity: solar thermal and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Solar thermal technologies are a promising technology because they recover the heat energy from solar radiation. Parabolic Dish Collector (PDC) is one of the many types of collectors available to harness the sun. In this research, the use of PDC is hybridized with a Thermoelectric Generator (TEG), then referred to as Solar Thermoelectric Generator (STEG). STEG has been thoroughly explored because of its ability to produce both electricity and heat simultaneously. TEG is a solid-state device that can convert the thermal energy into electricity directly. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the performance of single TEG for different heating condition with various cooling methods for best power generation.