Soitec has introduced its fifth generation of concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems designed to for large-scale solar power plants.
The system includes a 28kW tracker of over 100 square-metres of module area, the most practical size for delivering the required power.
According to France-based Soitec, the new system’s configuration improves upon previous CPV products, boosting energy-generating efficiencies as high as 30%.
A modular approach means that systems are designed to be clustered into over 1MW blocks, with each block using a pair of centralised inverters.
“We are ready now to provide very cost-effective deployment of CPV solar power plants capable of generating hundreds of megawatts of electricity,” said Hansjörg Lerchenmüller, Soitec’s senior vice president, customer group for the solar energy business unit.
The system consists of 12 CPV modules, each generating more than 2 kW of peak power.
For this new product, Soitec has reconfigured its Concentrix modules to reduce the number of parts per CPV system, making installation in the field simpler and faster. The concentrator uses a silicone-on-glass Fresnel lens construction.
Soitec’s two-axis-tracking CPV systems are intended for installation sites with high direct solar radiation. The systems produce a high, constant power output curve throughout the day and are able to match peak-load demands.
Soitec has begun shipping demonstration units to project sites. Plans call for volume production to ramp in the first quarter of 2012 at the company’s manufacturing facility in Freiburg, Germany, and later at Soitec’s planned new factory in San Diego, California.
Soitec is exhibiting at the Solar Power International exhibition in Dallas, Texas.
www.soitec.com
