CPV and the Solar Industry

The drivers of cost reduction for CPV are the same as those for other solar technologies: efficiency, capacity and reliability.

CPV solar cell efficiency today is 40% in production, considerably higher than traditional PV, which is about 25%. In terms of capacity, CPV systems can generate 40% more energy throughout the day per rated capacity than conventional fixed tilt solar panels in sunny locations. Reliability is tied to CPV technology, CPV systems and to the company designing and manufacturing them. A third-party engineering firm has certified Amonix systems as having a useful life of 50 years.

Serious research on CPV has been conducted since the 1970s, and in recent years there have been enormous advances in CPV, especially in the areas of efficiency, improved optics, higher concentration levels and tracking. There are currently more than 100 companies offering CPV technology, with the majority of them having been founded since 2005.

CPV technology outperforms other solar technologies in desert-like climates. In the United States, this includes Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. CPV also is an excellent choice in places you might not think of – for example, Colorado and Utah - which also have an abundance of sunshine throughout the year.

CPV requires far less water, and is less disruptive to the land than CSP. In fact, CPV requires no water in operation, and only minimal water for routine cleaning. In addition, CSP installations must be large – 100MW or larger – and deployment time is lengthy and projects are difficult to permit and finance.
 

CPV has higher efficiencies and lower overall system costs than traditional PV in sunny and dry climates.
 

CPV is a “disruptive innovation” in the solar industry with the potential to displace traditional thin-film and silicon-based PV and Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) technologies in utility-scale projects in sunny and dry climates. All solar technologies have applications for which they are best suited. Because CPV does not require water in operation, uses land better, and produces more energy per acre than any other solar technology, CPV is the best choice in areas where there is an abundance of sunshine, water is a concern and land use is an issue.

Concentrated Photovoltaic technology uses optics to focus large amounts of sunlight onto small photovoltaic surfaces to generate electricity more efficiently than traditional PV. The greater efficiency comes from the photovoltaic cells used in CPV, which can be III-V (three-five) multijunction cells instead of the crystalline silicon cells used in traditional PV systems. For best results, CPV systems also use trackers to continually adjust the position of the cells to track the sun.