Passive cooling to mitigate climate-induced performance losses in photovoltaics

Rising temperatures and more frequent heat extremes reduce the efficiency and power output of solar photovoltaics, creating an urgent need for scalable passive cooling. Here, we report an assessment of three hydrogel-based passive cooling configurations across 2,539 utility-scale photovoltaic sites in China under diverse climatic conditions. The hydrogel cooling with water supply configuration delivers the greatest benefits, yielding an average annual module temperature reduction of up to 7.28°C in hot arid-steppe regions. Across all sites, it provides an average equivalent capacity gain of 26.83 GW, mitigates 32.80 Mt CO 2 , and increases electricity yield by up to 7.26% while achieving the shortest payback period of 3.16 years. Passive cooling also maintains its effectiveness under future climate scenarios despite changing irradiance patterns. These findings identify passive cooling as a practical strategy to improve photovoltaic resilience and support climate mitigation and adaptation in a warming world.