Utility-Scale Concentrating Solar Power and Photovoltaic Projects: A Technology and Market Overview

Abstract

NOTICEThis report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States government. Neither the United States government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States government or any agency thereof. Executive SummarySolar energy technologies continue to be deployed at unprecedented levels, aided significantly by the advent of large-scale projects that sell their power directly to electric utilities. Such utilityscale systems can deploy solar technologies far faster than traditional "behind-the-meter" projects designed to offset retail load. These systems achieve significant economies of scale during construction and operation, and in attracting financial capital, which can in turn reduce the delivered cost of power.This is the first in a series of three reports on utility-scale solar installation in the United States. This report serves as: (1) a primer on utility-scale solar technologies and (2) a summary of the current state of the U.S. utility-scale solar market. The second report overviews policies and financing of utility-scale solar systems; the third report assesses the impact of financial structures on the cost of energy from utility-scale systems.Utility-scale solar projects are generally categorized in one of two basic groups: concentrating solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV). CSP systems generally include four commercially available technologies: CSP trough, CSP tower, parabolic dish, and linear Fresnel reflector, although only CSP trough and CSP tower projects are currently being deployed. CSP systems can also be categorized as hybrid systems, which combine a solar-based system and a fossil fuel energy system to produce electricity or steam.PV systems usually include either crystalline silicon (c-Si) or thin-film technologies. Thin film includes an array of advanced materials, but only one-cadmium telluride (CdTe)-has had significant success in utility-scale solar development. Additionally, this report covers concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems, 1 which only recently have gained traction in the utility-scale market with several signed contracts.According to a database maintained by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 2 there are approximately 16,043 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar resources under development 3 in the United States as of January 2012 (see Figure ES-1). PV projects make up the overwhelm...

Electrical Rating of Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) Systems: Long-Term Performance Analysis and Comparison to Conventional PV Systems

“…Presently, multi-junction solar cells (MJCs) have the highest energy conversion efficiency at 46% (García-Domingo et al, 2015). In addition to higher energy conversion efficiency (Chantana et al, 2015;Vossier et al, 2012;Mendelsohn et al, 2012), MJC fabrication is expensive for larger cell area. To make them cost effective, a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) concept in which solar radiations are concentrated onto a small solar cell area is employed.…”

“…To make them cost effective, a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) concept in which solar radiations are concentrated onto a small solar cell area is employed. This reduces the use of expensive solar cell material (Mendelsohn et al, 2012;Mathur et al, 1990;Wang et al, 2010;Siaw et al, 2014;Chong et al, 2009). …”

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“…Two fundamental configurations exist; these are classified as linear concentrators (Parabolic Trough and Linear Fresnel configurations) and point concentrators (Solar Tower and Parabolic Dish configurations) [17].…”

“…A parabolic trough solar field is modular, consisting of numerous parallel rows of concentrators aligned on a north-south axis, allowing east-west tracking along a horizontal axis as depicted in figure 2.4 [17]. The mirror design concentrates direct sunlight radiation on the parabola's focal line where thermally efficient receiver tubes are mounted.…”