Solar volumetric heating is one of the alternative clean energy applications, and the improvement of thermal storage capacity of the system is necessary for the efficient applications. Consequently, volumetric solar absorption flow system incorporating the absorber plate in the channel was investigated for different Reynolds numbers and solar concentrations. The influence of the location of the absorbing plate on the heat transfer and hydrodynamic losses was also examined in the channel. In order to increase the thermal storage capacity of the working fluid, phase change materials of 7% concentration was incorporated in the analysis. Lauric acid was used as phase change materials, and water was considered as the carrier fluid in the channel. The performance and pump power loss parameters were introduced to assess the thermal performance of the volumetric solar absorption system. It is found that the performance parameter attained the highest value for the absorber plate location at the top of the channel, which was about 10% higher than those corresponding to the other locations. This was more pronounced with increasing Reynolds number and solar concentration. The pump power loss parameter was the highest for the absorber plate location at the mid-height of the channel. Copyright (c) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.