Long-term performance potential of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems

Burhan, Muhammad; Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil; Ng, Kim Choon

Long-term performance potential of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems

Type

Article

Authors

Burhan, Muhammad
Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil
Ng, Kim Choon

KAUST Department

Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Environmental Science and Engineering Program
Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)

Online Publication Date

2017-07-17

Print Publication Date

2017-09

Date

2017-07-17

Abstract

Owing to the diverse photovoltaic (PV) systems’ design and technology, as well as the dynamic nature of insolation data received on the aperture surfaces, the instantaneous output from a PV system fluctuates greatly. For accurate performance estimation of a large PV field, the long term performance as electrical output is a more rational approach over the conventional testing methods, such as at Standard Testing Conditions (STC) and at the Nominal Operating Cell Temperature (NOCT) available hitherto. In this paper, the long-term performances of concentrated PVs (Cassegrain reflectors and Fresnel lens) with 2-axes tracking and a variety of PV systems, namely the stationary flat-plate PV (mono-crystalline, poly-crystalline and thin-films CIS types), is presented over a period of one year for the merit comparison of system design, under the tropical weather conditions of Singapore. From the measured field performances, the total energy output of 240.2 kW h/m/year is recorded for CPV operation in Singapore, which is nearly two folds higher than the stationary PV panels.

Citation

Burhan M, Shahzad MW, Ng KC (2017) Long-term performance potential of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) systems. Energy Conversion and Management 148: 90–99. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2017.05.072.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the International Research Scholarship of Mechanical Engineering Department, National University of Singapore and collaborated with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.