The Emergence of PV Hot Water Systems
A Technology Brief
April 2025 - PDF 0.81MB
Editor: Robert A Taylor, Tony Day

As photovoltaic (PV) system costs dramatically reduce, they are becoming economically viable as a technology to replace gas, grid electricity, and even solar thermal collectors as an energy source for low-temperature heating applications. The pairing of PV electricity with domestic water heating represents an under-explored—but rapidly emerging—opportunity for innovation, self-sufficiency, and sustainable modernization. In some regions, the household domestic hot water demand is over 50% of total household energy consumption. Thus, at the residential scale, the road to a low-carbon future must include sustainable solutions for domestic hot water.