Have PV-thermal hybrid panels arrived in Australia?

I read with interest today about the recent arrival of Turkish company Solimpeks to Australia.

What is most interesting to me is that they have a hybrid PV panel and Solar Thermal panel which is fully integrated together; called PowerVolt and Power Therm.

Having (previously) sold both products for many years and worked for manufacturers, I recall vividly asking smarter people than me, whether this was concept was technically feasible some years ago.

I always got the same answer; “sort of, but one way or the other you are going to compromise the performance of one of the two technologies, and you introduce a new complexity”.

Solimpeks seem to have addressed this issue by offering a choice of an energy optimised product OR a thermally optimised product to suit the application, and have a very detailed test report and analysis on their web site. Nice.

I note from the web site that CEC approval is “pending” and they that the combination and use of STCs for PV and SGU’s for SHW are clearly at the front of their mind.

Just how the realities of marketing, sales and installation of such products works out remains to be seen; it may take a while to tune that correctly but full marks for innovation and getting a new product ready for market.

Cant wait to see some out there!