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It is a hybrid system of PV cells and thermal collectors which are flat and tube‐shaped material for absorbing heat from sun. PV/T has dual benefits i.e. while generating electricity using PV cells, thermal collectors utilize heat energy from solar radiations which are not consumed by PV cells as well as waste energy from PV cell (Kannan and Vakeesan 2016). Recently, PV/T systems are becoming popular owing to higher efficiency. Numerous researches are conducted from the different aspects to evaluate the performance and efficiency of PV/T collectors (Huang et al. 2001; Tripanagnostopoulos et al. 2002; Zondag et al. 2003). Different materials for PV cell are chosen for research ranging from mono‐crystalline, poly‐crystalline, amorphous Si and thin‐film cells. Many options for collectors are also evaluated which are based on different size and shape of tube (square, rectangular, spiral, round hollow and flat) (Sandnes and Rekstad 2002). For the thermal collector part, different materials such as copper, aluminium, polymer, water and air are being evaluated by many researchers (Sandnes and Rekstad 2002; Tripanagnostopoulos et al. 2002).

In solar industry developments are also taking place to upgrade the solar heaters, improvisation in design and size of solar cells. Further, invention of new materials which can efficiently absorb the light has also been reported (Kannan and Vakeesan 2016).