It is well known that the major constraints to the efficiency of photovoltaic devices come\nfrom the generation of heat. In this context, thermoelectric generators have been proposed as a viable\nheat recovery solution, leading to an increase of the overall efficiency. Within this kind of hybrid\nsolution, the photovoltaic and thermoelectric parts can be either electrically separated or connected\nin the same circuit. In the latter case, the presence of the thermoelectric generator in series to the\nsolar cell may lead to electrical losses. In this work, we analyze the effect of several parameters\non the output power of electrically hybridized thermoelectric-photovoltaic systems. Both electrical\nmeasurements and simulations are used. The results show that while an electrical lossless condition\nexists (as also reported in previous works), it does not necessarily lead to significant power gains\ncompared to the sole photovoltaic case. In addition, the strong temperature sensitivity of the lossless\ncondition makes electrical hybridization difficult to implement. Since solar irradiation varies over\ntime, such sensitivity would make the system work mostly in a suboptimal regime. Therefore,\nthis study provides clues on the actual applicability of electrically hybridized devices.
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