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The industrial sector is one of the biggest oil consumers in Cyprus, corresponding to 20% of the fuel consumption. A parabolic trough collector (PTC) system seems the best option to produce clean thermal energy at higher temperatures than those that can be achieved from the already widely used flat plate collectors on the island. This paper presents a simulation model built to investigate the performance of the first industrial PTC system in Cyprus, installed at the Cyprus biggest soft drinks factory. The simulation model is built in TRNSYS and is validated using data from the real PTC system installed at the factory. The results show a very good fitting between the operating parameters and the power output of the Solar Field (SF), Concrete Thermal Storage System (CTES), and the Steam Generator (SG). The average percentage relative error of the system's contribution to the process is less than 6.32% for the daily steam production and during a week did not exceed 6.45%. The novelty of this study is the development of a design tool that can be used by potential interested industries to identify the suitable system that fits their needs. All data are provided in the form of graphs and allow anyone to use as input data the thermal energy demand and required steam temperature of the industry to retrieve information about the size of a suitable system which satisfies these requirements depending on each case. The payback period for all cases examined varies from 2 to 6 years, depending on the size of the system.

In recent years many Renewable Energy Sources (RES) power plants have been connected to power networks throughout Europe, in order to meet the EU's objectives for sustainable energy supply. As far as RES residential applications are concerned, the grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems constitute the most important representative of RES, because PVs can be easily installed even in densely built-up areas. In this context, small residential PV systems utilising Building Integrated PV (BIPV) modules are going to gain ground mainly at newly built or rebuilt building structures. That is because a BIPV module operates as a multi-functional building construction material; it generates energy and serves as part of the building envelope. This paper highlights the energy benefits of residential buildings in Southern Europe with Fibre Reinforced Composite BIPV modules under Net Metering Scheme and proposes suitable grid-connected PV inverter structures in case of BIPV systems with multiple orientation and inclination profiles.

The efficiency of Building Integrated Photovoltaic/Thermal (BIPV/T) systems depends on various parameters such as the location, amount of incident radiation, orientation of the collector surface, slope of the system and the type of ventilation of the air gap between the Photovoltaic (PV) panels and the secondary skin of the building. However, in order to examine the performance of the system, apart from the energy efficiency, the exergy efficiency needs to be estimated as well. There are numerous studies about energy and exergy efficiency of PV systems, however, most of them are based on PV/T systems, water systems and mechanically ventilated air systems. This paper examines theoretically and experimentally the energy and exergy analysis of a naturally ventilated BIPV/T system. Experimental procedure is carried out to record the temperature distribution of a naturally ventilated BIPV/T system. The results from the experimental procedure are used to estimate the energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of the system. It is proved that the energy efficiency of the system varies from a minimum of 26.5% to a maximum of 33.5%, and the exergy efficiency varies from a minimum 13% to a maximum of 16%. It is also observed that the exergy input to the system is much higher than the exergy output of the system.

This article presents the state of the knowledge on the thermal analysis of double skin facades with integrated photovoltaic (PV) panels called the Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) in terms of the published studies carried out on these systems. The idea of integration of the PV panels by replacing building elements, increase the prospects of the renewable energy systems. Taking also into account the need to use more renewable energy systems in buildings, the investigation of the BIPV systems to improve their performance is of a great importance. The literature studies are separated into experimental and theoretical for naturally ventilated systems and mechanically ventilated with external means e.g. fan use. It is concluded that most researchers studied the systems with mechanical ventilation rather than the systems with natural ventilation because the latter are more complex in terms of the air flow behaviour in the air duct. Additionally, various researchers proposed Nu number correlations and convective heat transfer correlation under several assumptions and conditions every time, for different range or Ra number which are presented and compared in this paper.