Breaking the 50% Solar PV efficiency barrier ... with Hansjorg Lerchenmuller of Soitec Concentrix Solar

Printer-friendly versionPDF version

Cost effective Solar cell efficiencies are generally thought to be limited to the sub-20% range. New, Concentrated PhotoVoltaic technology is breaking this barrier (CPV). In this interview with Hansjorg Lerchenmuller of Soitec Concentrix Solar, I find out what it was all about.

Cost effective Solar cell efficiencies are generally thought to be limited to the sub-20% range. New, Concentrated PhotoVoltaic technology is breaking this barrier (CPV). In this interview with Hansjorg Lerchenmuller of Soitec Concentrix Solar, I find out what it was all about. We explore where they are today. How CPV differs from conventional photovoltaics and Concentrated Thermal Solar. We also examine how they plan to break the 50% efficiency barrier.

Then we switch over and discuss the commercial aspects of it. After all, there are plenty of great lab solar efficiency results that were not manufacturable or did not fully commercialize. Is CPV technology real? Is anyone buying it? Can they scale it to the utility level? Have they put it in the field?
Find out more in this interview ... http://energy.wesrch.com/weqTR1X95A

About weSRCH

weSRCH.com is a virtual science forum for professionals who engage in the fields of High Tech, Green Tech, and Medicine. It is designed by professionals to be an open communications and information platform for staying abreast with the latest innovations and news in your field as well as learn about scientific advancements in others. It's a place for you to raise the visibility of your career and thus your pay in today's competitive job market. It allows you to network with other scientists, doctors, engineers, and colleagues in your field.

About Concentrix
Concentrix Solar GmbH is a leading supplier of concentrator photovoltaic equipment and turnkey power plants for sunny locations. The company was founded in February 2005 as a spin-off from the world-renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. In December 2009, Concentrix Solar became a division of the Soitec Group.

Concentrix Solar operates a fully automated industrial production line in Freiburg, Germany, with an annual production capacity of 25 megawatts. Its FLATCON® concentrator modules use Fresnel lenses to concentrate sunlight 500 times and focus it onto small, highly efficient solar cells that convert the light into electrical energy. With this technology, Concentrix Solar achieves AC system efficiencies of 25 percent – almost twice as high as those achieved by conventional silicon technology. As a result, Concentrix Solar’s systems can reduce the cost of electricity generation by 10 percent to 20 percent compared to other solar technologies, depending on the location of the installation. For more information, visit: http://www.concentrix-solar.de/

Contacts:
e-mail: marketing@wesrch.com
phone: 408.453.8844
fax: 408.453.0608