energies Article The CPV “Toolbox”: New Approaches to Maximizing Solar Resource Utilization with Application-Oriented Concentrator Photovoltaics Harry Apostoleris 1, Marco Stefancich 2 and Matteo Chiesa 1,3,* 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science & Technology, Abu Dhabi 127788, United Arab Emirates;
[email protected] 2 School of Engineering & Applied Science, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Blaak 10, TA 3011 Rotterdam, The Netherlands;
[email protected] 3 Department of Physics & Technology, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, 9010 Tromsø, Norway * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: As the scaling of silicon PV cells and module manufacturing has driven solar energy penetration up and costs down, concentrator photovoltaic technologies, originally conceived as a cost-saving measure, have largely been left behind. The loss of market share by CPV is being locked in even as solar energy development encounters significant obstacles related to space constraints in many parts of the world. The inherently higher collection efficiency enabled by the use of concentrators could substantially alleviate these challenges, but the revival of CPV for this purpose requires substantial reinvention of the technology to actually capture the theoretically possible efficiency gains, and to do so at market-friendly costs. This article will discuss recent progress in key areas central to this reinvention, including miniaturization of cells and optics to produce compact, lightweight “micro-CPV” systems; hybridization of CPV with thermal, illumination and other applications to make use of unused energy streams such as diffuse light and waste heat; and the integration of Citation: Apostoleris, H.; Stefancich, sun-tracking into the CPV module architecture to enable greater light collection and more flexible M.; Chiesa, M.