The objective of the study is to construct and evaluate a fixed PV (photovoltaic) cell integrated with SODIS (solar water disinfection) system to treat drinking water and generate electricity under different climate through experimental and simulation methods. The photovoltaic and disinfection performances of the hybrid system were studied by the disinfection of Escherichia coli. The applicability of the system in Lhasa and Chennai was evaluated by analyzing the daily radiation and predicting the daily water temperature and the system electricity output. The results confirm that the temperature would dramatically enhance the SODIS process and shorten the disinfection time, when the water temperature was above 45 degrees C. The PV cell in the hybrid system could work under low temperature because of the water layer and the generated electricity was much more than the system consumption. The simulation results show that the days with maximum water temperature above 45 degrees C were more than 60% of whole year in Chennai. The generated electricity of the hybrid system was 49682.3 W h and 45615.9 W h a year in Lhasa and Chennai respectively. It was sufficient to drive the system of whole year. The number of days which realized drinking water treatment was 324 days in Lhasa and 315 days in Chennai a year. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.