Engineering-oriented review of photovoltaic cooling technologies: From performance metrics to strategy selection

Qianqian Jin; Ming Yan; Chong Zhai; Chenhan Liu

doi:10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2026.100158

The Innovation Energy > 2026 Vol. 3 > No. 2 > 100158

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Engineering-oriented review of photovoltaic cooling technologies: From performance metrics to strategy selection

1.
School of Energy and Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
2.
Advanced Thermal Management Technology and Functional Materials Laboratory, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China

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Corresponding authors: zhaichong@nnu.edu.cn (C. Z.); chenhanliu@njnu.edu.cn(C. L.)
Received Date: March 27, 2026

Accepted Date: April 20, 2026

Published Online: April 23, 2026

The Innovation Energy 3(2), https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2026.100158 | Cite this article

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

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PUBLIC SUMMARY

PUBLIC SUMMARY
1. This review synthesizes PV cooling technologies from an engineering and deployment perspective.
  
  Cooling methods are categorized into active, passive, environment-driven, and hybrid approaches.
  
  Strategies are compared using unified metrics: cooling effect, energy gain, resource use, and reliability.
  
  A decision framework links cooling choices to climate, installation constraints, and system goals.
  
  PV cooling is framed as a multi-objective design problem for scalable and sustainable applications.

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

The operating temperature of photovoltaic (PV) modules strongly affects electrical efficiency, reliability, and lifetime, yet existing thermal management solutions remain fragmented and difficult to translate into practical deployment. This review presents an engineering-oriented synthesis of PV cooling technologies, shifting the focus from isolated temperature reduction to system-level performance, deployability, and sustainability. Cooling strategies are systematically categorized into active, passive, environment-driven, and hybrid approaches, and evaluated using unified metrics including temperature reduction (typically ~3–50 °C), net energy gain (up to ~25% under favorable conditions), parasitic energy consumption, resource footprint, reliability, and technology readiness level (TRL 2–8).Based on this systematic categorization and evaluation, a decision-oriented cooling strategy selection framework is proposed to bridge the gap between laboratory-scale demonstrations and real-world deployment by linking climate conditions, installation constraints, and system objectives with scenario-matched cooling solutions. By explicitly addressing the fragmented nature of existing studies, this work reframes PV cooling as a multi-objective engineering design problem rather than a single-metric optimization task. The proposed framework provides actionable guidance for selecting and integrating cooling strategies across diverse PV applications and highlights future directions toward scalable, reliable, and resource-efficient photovoltaic thermal management.
- Photovoltaic thermal management /
- PV cooling strategies /
- Active and passive cooling /
- Hybrid cooling /
- Engineering design framework

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Jin Q., Yan M., Zhai C., et al. (2026). Engineering-oriented review of photovoltaic cooling technologies: From performance metrics to strategy selection. The Innovation Energy 3:100158. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2026.100158

Jin Q., Yan M., Zhai C., et al. (2026). Engineering-oriented review of photovoltaic cooling technologies: From performance metrics to strategy selection. The Innovation Energy 3:100158. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2026.100158

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Engineering-oriented review of photovoltaic cooling technologies: From performance metrics to strategy selection

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