Concentrator Photovoltaic Technologies and Market: A Critical Review

Abstract

This paper offers an overview about the current status of the concentrator photovoltaic technologies and market. It highlights the potential of this technology to bring the cost of electricity to competitive levels with fossil-fuel based resources. It starts with an overview about the photovoltaic market and then it narrows its scope to describe the concentrator photovoltaic technology (CPV). Then, it goes on quantifying the world CPV capacity based on the latest industry reports released in 2010. In this paper, we estimate the current world operational CPV capacity to be 21 MW. This paper also reports a minimum installation cost as low as 3.05 $/W and a levelised cost of electricity as low as 0.14 $/kWh. Those are the minimum costs announced in 2010. One interesting conclusion of this study is that CPV systems with high concentration have a higher economic potential comparatively with low concentration CPV systems.