With the rapid increase in energy demand, the limited availability of fossil fuel resources and the desire to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, the importance of optimising PV installations is paramount. The objective and innovation of this paper is to examine the effect of a cooling system based on heat pipes on the performance of photovoltaic panels for a household in the hot climate of Kuwait for which the considered system has not been tested before. Experimental and simulation results show both the amount of heat and electrical power generated from the solar panels in two configurations with and without cooling, considering different seasonal cycles. The angles of the panels were located at their optimum position indicating an active tracking system. Numerical model of the system was developed in TRNSYS and validated based on the measurement data. Simulation results showed that the cooling effect of the panels significantly increases the electrical output by almost 6.25%. In addition, a reduction in solar cell temperature of around 8% was observed in the Kuwait climate. The proposed model supports the decision of implementing a PV/T system in hot climate areas where the effect of cooling will result in higher efficiencies for generating electricity.