Five decades of evolution of solar photovoltaic thermal (PVT) technology - A critical insight on review articles

Cogeneration of electrical and thermal energy by solar photovoltaic thermal (PVT) technology is being considered in numerous lucrative applications like power generation, building thermal comfort, drying, refrigeration, air conditioning, desalination and industrial process heat. In view of its practicality and eco friendliness, solar PVT technology is receiving boundless attention among the researchers and the practicing engineers including architects. Solar PVT technology had emerged during 1970s and presently had completed 50 years of existence over which this technology have been demonstrated successfully with many design options. This could be witnessed by the fact that many review articles were published on different themes on the progress of this technology during last 5 decades. A consolidation of these review articles is therefore needed at present to categorize the PVT review articles based on the content being reviewed so as to provide a quick and concise reference guide for the researchers in the coming days.