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Soitec releases 5th generation CPV system
- 13 years ago (2011-10-20)
- Junior Isles
French semiconductor manufacturer Soitec has launched its fifth generation concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system, designed for large-scale power plants. The new product configuration is claimed to deliver higher efficiency and a lower cost of electricity, according to the firm.
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Designed specifically to improve the levelized cost of electricity (LCoE) for very large solar power plants, the new CPV system drastically reduces the cost of the installation and maintenance of CPV plants, the firm claims.
"Our latest generation of Concentrix product technology is perfectly suited to meet the growing demand for utility-scale solar installations. We are ready now to provide very cost-effective deployment of CPV solar power plants capable of generating hundreds of megawatts of electricity," said Hansjörg Lerchenmüller, Soitec's senior vice president.
Soitec says that despite using the same materials as the previous generation, the new system’s configuration improves on its previous CPV products, boosting energy-generating efficiencies to as high as 30 per cent.
The new CPV systems are especially well suited to installation sites with high direct solar radiation, producing a high, constant power output curve throughout the day and better able to match peak-load demands.
The system consists of 12 CPV modules, each generating more than 2 kW of peak power. Soitec has also reconfigured its Concentrix modules to reduce the number of parts per CPV system, hopefully making installation in the field simpler and faster.
Soitec hopes to offer power companies a path to lower costs and faster installation times by using a ‘building block’ approach developed by the firm together with its partners. The new CPV systems are designed to be clustered into blocks of more than 1 MW, each using a pair of centralized inverters. This design strategy significantly reduces construction and maintenance costs, says the firm.
Soitec has begun shipping demonstration units to project sites. The company estimates production to ramp in first-quarter 2012 at the firm's manufacturing facility in Freiburg, Germany, and later at Soitec’s planned new factory in San Diego, CA, USA.