Benchmarking concentrating photovoltaic systems

Fabian Duerr; Buvaneshwari Muthirayan; Youri Meuret; Hugo Thienpont

doi:10.1117/12.860554

19 August 2010 Benchmarking concentrating photovoltaic systems

Fabian Duerr, Buvaneshwari Muthirayan, Youri Meuret, Hugo Thienpont

Proceedings Volume 7773, Reliability of Photovoltaic Cells, Modules, Components, and Systems III; 777315 (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.860554
Event: SPIE Solar Energy + Technology, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Integral to photovoltaics is the need to provide improved economic viability. To achieve this goal, photovoltaic technology has to be able to harness more light at less cost. A large variety of concentrating photovoltaic concepts has provided cause for pursuit. To obtain a detailed profitability analysis, a flexible evaluation is crucial for benchmarking the cost-performance of this variety of concentrating photovoltaic concepts. To save time and capital, a way to estimate the cost-performance of a complete solar energy system is to use computer aided modeling. In this work a benchmark tool is introduced based on a modular programming concept. The overall implementation is done in MATLAB whereas Advanced Systems Analysis Program (ASAP) is used for ray tracing calculations. This allows for a flexible and extendable structuring of all important modules, namely an advanced source modeling including time and local dependence, and an advanced optical system analysis of various optical designs to obtain an evaluation of the figure of merit. An important figure of merit: the energy yield for a given photovoltaic system at a geographical position over a specific period, can be calculated.

Citation Download Citation

Fabian Duerr, Buvaneshwari Muthirayan, Youri Meuret, and Hugo Thienpont "Benchmarking concentrating photovoltaic systems", Proc. SPIE 7773, Reliability of Photovoltaic Cells, Modules, Components, and Systems III, 777315 (19 August 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.860554

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