Invited Paper

Recent progress in concentrator photovoltaics

A. Gombert, I. Heile, J. Wüllner, T. Gerstmaier, S. van Riesen, E. Gerster, M. Röttger,
H. Lerchenmüller
Concentrix Solar GmbH, Bötzinger Str. 31, 79111 Freiburg, Germany

ABSTRACT

In this paper, a review of the recent progress in concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) is given. In the first part, an
introduction to CPV includes the concepts of solar concentration and the specific advantages of CPV. Then, the various
optical designs are presented and discussed. In the second part, the recent success in bringing this technology to market
ready products is described. Exemplarily, the FLATCON® CPV technology is described in detail and data of the field
performance are presented. The design of the FLATCON CPV module is based on Fresnel lenses and III-V multi-
junction solar cells (MJC). With these modules Concentrix installed a demo tracker and two power plants in Spain in
2008. Field data of these systems with a maximum AC efficiency of 23% are presented and discussed in detail. In 2009,
the first systems were installed with the module CX-75 which is produced on the fully automated production line of
Concentrix in Freiburg. This module has a DC efficiency of 27% flashed. The field data which are presented demonstrate
an outstanding AC system efficiency of 25%.
Keywords: concentrator optics, photovoltaics, field performance

1. INTRODUCTION
The highly efficient conversion of solar energy to electrical energy by using photovoltaic (PV) cells is one of the key
elements for the future world energy supply. Researchers in the field of photovoltaics are faced with the problem how to
increase the efficiency of this conversion process while reducing the cost significantly. The solution with the highest cost
reduction potential is concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) where the cost reduction happens by replacing expensive PV cell
material with lower cost optical systems covering the receiver aperture. The development of CPV systems dates back to
the late 1970s when researchers at the National Sandia Laboratories designed CPV systems based on large acrylic
Fresnel lenses and solar cells made out of crystalline silicon [1]. With silicon solar cells, CPV systems did not become
widely used, certainly because the cost for the optical concentrator were not justified by higher system efficiencies or the
reduction of cell cost. This has completely changed when in the last decade so far expensive multijunction III-V
concentrator solar cells with efficiencies > 40% under concentration became available. An intense development of CPV
system technology with high concentration started and resulted in several market-ready products. Superior solar-to-grid
CPV system efficiencies of up to 25% were realized and open the gate for lowest levelized cost of electricity. First CPV
power plants have been installed which verify the maturity of this technology with the availability of very satisfying field
data over a reasonable period of time, i.e. years.

2. CONCENTRATOR PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY

2.1 Solar concentration and photovoltaics
Concentration of solar radiation for PV applications is motivated by the potential to reduce cost and to increase
efficiency. The cost reduction is due to the replacement of expensive PV cell material by lower cost optical systems
covering the receiver aperture. The increased efficiency is related to the increase of the open-circuit voltage of the solar
cell with concentration. If we assume a linear dependence of the photocurrent IL on the concentration C, and a simple
one-exponential model to describe the solar cell, we find:

Photonics for Solar Energy Systems III, edited by Ralf B. Wehrspohn, Andreas Gombert, Proc. of SPIE
Vol. 7725, 772508 · © 2010 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786X/10/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.858888

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 kT
Voc ,C = Voc ,1 + m ln C (1)
e

with Voc,C and Voc,1 being the open-circuit voltages at concentrations C and one respectively, and m being the diode´s
ideality factor.

Equation (1) can only be used to understand the general dependence. In reality, differences from the logarithmic increase
in Voc with concentration are found, e.g. due to some non linear dependence of recombination processes on the carrier
concentration and to ohmic drops inside the cell (even at open circuit).

For the concentration of solar radiation, some basic principles shall be described here using Fig. 1 for illustration
(following the comprehensive introduction in the chapter “Concentrator optics for the next generation photovoltaics”
from Benitez and Miñano in [2]). We assume a concentrator pointing in the direction given by the unit vector v. Thus, v
is the normal incidence direction vector. The concentrator shall concentrate all radiation which is incident on its entry
aperture Ain with angles of incidence ≤ θin (the so-called acceptance angle) onto the exit area Aout with angles of
incidence ≤ θout at the exit area. Both areas are assumed to be the projection on planes normal to v. In concentrator
photovoltaics (CPV), the exit area of the concentrator normally represents the PV cell area. The geometrical
concentration is defined as Cg = Ain/Aout. From the theorem of the conservation of the étendue (or also called Liouville´s
theorem) which holds for all non-scattering loss-free passive concentrators [3] one can deduce the inequality [2]:

C g sin 2 θ in ≤ n 2 sin 2 θ out

(2)
with n being the refractive index of the concentrator n ≥ 1 and the medium for which θin is defined having a refractive
index of 1 (e.g. air). The equality in (2) is the thermodynamic concentration limit for a given acceptance angle. How θin,
θout and Cg are chosen in practise depends on many factors including the definition of Cg, of the effective acceptance
angle, and also of the optimum PV concentrator performance.

With the maximum for θout = 90°, the case of isotropic illumination of the exit area and the angle under which we would
see on earth the sun disc without perturbation through the atmosphere αS ≅ 0.27° = θin we can calculate the maximum
concentration:

C g ,max = n 2 ⋅ 46200
(3)

Actually a concentration of 56,000 times the solar irradiance has been achieved in an experiment [4] but in practical
cases, the obtained values are much lower.

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 Fig. 1: Illustration of the concentrator geometry.

Principally, the task for the designer of a CPV module is to find a technical and economical optimum with respect to the
dimensions of the optical concentrator and the solar cell. As long as the tunnel diode and the contact grid of the
multijunction cells do not set a limit, the efficiency increases with concentration according to (1). On the other hand,
most optical concentrators become less efficient with increasing concentration. Furthermore, the need for heat dissipation
from the cell has to be taken into account. As there are still many different concentrator and module designs, there exist
different views how to achieve the mentioned optimum. A first hint may be given by the fact that most of the high
concentration CPV modules which are commercialized or close to commercialisation have a concentration of 400 –
1200.

2.2 Advantages of CPV with respect to other PV technologies

CPV is best suited for hot climates. Due to the very low temperature coefficient of the III-V multijunction concentrator
solar cell the performance of CPV systems is much less affected by temperature than any other PV technology, i.e.
approximately by one third only compared to crystalline silicon modules. This is extremely important for the best solar
sites on the world which are mostly also in hot climates. Due to the low temperature coefficient, the efficiency and the
electricity production of CPV systems are only little affected by high ambient temperatures in comparison to other PV
technologies. As can be seen in Fig. 2, the efficiency drop for a temperature difference of 40 K (e.g. from 25°C at
standard testing conditions to typical operating cell temperatures of 65°C) is by far smallest for CPV systems.

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 Fig. 2: Efficiency loss for different PV technologies due to a rise of temperature of 40 K.

CPV systems using a high concentration are always two axes tracked. Two axes tracking allows for a homogeneous
electricity production profile over the day because the panels are always oriented perpendicularly to the incident
irradiation from the sun. The most important effect is that the power production is at high levels when the power demand
peaks in the afternoon. The afternoon peak of the electrical power consumption is very typical. In Fig. 3, typical data for
California are shown together with the production profiles of a fixed PV installation and a CPV system at high
concentration. The superior daily production profile together with the high efficiency enables CPV systems to achieve
highest energy production per used area and highest temperature corrected capacity factors of up to 34% on sites with a
very good solar resource [5].

Fig. 2: Electricity production profiles of fixed and two axes tracked PV installations together with the power demand (data for
California)

On a midterm perspective, highest conversion efficiency is not only helpful to obtain lowest levelized cost of electricity
(LCOE) but will be a prerequisite. The reason is that all PV technologies will undertake a strong cost reduction and the

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 limiting cost are defined by the materials glass, steel and copper. The higher the efficiency is, the better the usage of the
material. So far, there is no alternative to CPV with respect to highest efficiencies.

2.3 Concentrator design for passively cooled modules

Before discussing the different optical designs, it shall be clarified that there are two fundamentally different types of
CPV module or system approaches: the first type involves many small to medium size concentrator-cell assemblies
which are arranged in an array and are passively cooled; the second type has one large optical concentrator and a central
receiver module which has to be cooled actively. In the following the more widespread passively cooled CPV modules
and their concentrators shall be described. Solar concentrators can be classified in imaging and non-imaging
concentrators. This classification is made by Leutz and Suzuki in [6] where a very good overview is given. The optical
principles are reflection, refraction, dispersion/diffraction, and fluorescence. On diffractive concentrators extensive
research has been done (as described in the review article [7]) and is still of interest. Fluorescence concentrators have
also been proposed 30 years ago [8] and experienced recently a renewed interest. Nevertheless, so far both approaches
did not play a significant role in industrially available CPV products. Therefore, we will concentrate here on refractive
and reflective concentrators and combinations thereof. The classical types representing each of the principles are the
Fresnel lens and the parabolic mirror. In general, these two cannot fulfil perfectly all the requirements on solar
concentrators for PV, e.g. high optical efficiency and concentration, uniform illumination, suitability for low-cost mass
production, insensitivity to tracking and manufacturing errors and to atmospheric variations of the incident direct solar
radiation, suitability to be arranged in modules, durability, low weight, and low aspect ratio (height/width) in order to be
able to produce flat modules. Therefore, more sophisticated designs have been developed.

A first step to improve the illumination uniformity and the acceptance angle was the introduction of a secondary
concentrator [9]. Further steps include the combination of primary and secondary concentrators in one system. In the
past, non-imaging designs were regarded as being superior as they can be ideal concentrators at the thermodynamic limit
while imaging concentrators are generally not ideal [6]. Recently, it was shown that with an aplanatic imaging design
very high flux level, as good or even exceeding those of non-imaging practical designs, could be obtained [10, 11]. A
superb example for a non-imaging concentrator is the RXI concentrator designed by Miñano et al. [12]. The RXI
concentrator uses refraction, reflection, and total internal reflection (the same surface as the refractive one) and has a
very low aspect ratio at high concentration. The aplanatic imaging design of Gordon and Feuerbach [10] resulted in a
compactness similar to the RXI concentrator and in high flux.

Today, Fresnel lenses made out of acrylics or silicon rubber on glass (SOG) are the most used primary optics. Their
major advantage is that modules can be easily constructed by having a first concentrating plane and a second receiver
plane separated by the focal distance. This allows for an easy electrical interconnection of the receivers on the second
plane because there is no constraint by the optical aperture. The major differences of the designs depend on the
dimensions of the primary optics and the cell. In case of small lenses and cells, one finds imaging designs whereas larger
cells often require non-imaging designs in order to improve the homogeneity of the irradiation of the cell. Mirrors for
primary optics are used in off-axis paraboloids and compact imaging designs as described in [10]. With an off-axis
paraboloid it is very difficult to achieve a slim module. Secondary optics includes domes, truncated cones and inverted
pyramids, and compound parabolic concentrators [13]. With secondary optics, the concentration or the acceptance angle
can be increased. The latter is especially important if the tracking accuracy is worse than 0.5° or if the optical alignment
of the concentrator as such proves to be difficult. Most concentrator designs use a secondary optics although the
complexity of the system is increased.

3. RECENT PROGRESS

3.1 First commercially available products and power plant installations

Although silicon cell based CPV was developed and tested since the late 1970´s it is only a few years that high
concentration CPV using multijunction solar cells was developed. Now, there are about 50 companies around the world

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 working on the market introduction of CPV. They have gone or still go the rocky road to success from laboratory
prototypes to reliable products with an expected lifetime of 25 years under harsh environmental conditions. High module
efficiencies of 27% at a concentration of approximately 500 have been measured for modules with flat or dome shaped
Fresnel lenses as primary concentrator and III-V multijunction solar cells [14, 15]. An very important step forward in this
field is the establishment of the new ISFOC institute (Instituto de Sistemas Fotovoltaicos de Concentration) in
Puertollano (Spain) that had issued international calls for tenders to install 3 MW of concentrators with the aim of
helping companies to set up pilot lines for concentrator manufacturing. The first several 100 kW plants were installed
and grid connected in 2008 (Fig. 3). The first measurements show the very good performance and reliability of the
systems operating in Puertollano [16].

Fig. 3: FLATCON® CPV systems of Concentrix Solar installed in Puertollano at the ISFOC site in 2008.

3.2 FLATCON® CPV technology

The design of the FLATCON CPV module dates back to the late 1990´s. At Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg, Germany, the
unique features of a cover and bottom plate made out of glass and a relatively small aperture of each of the primary
lenses which are assembled in an array were developed [17]. The cells are mounted on heat spreaders which serve at the
same time as contact pads for the internal electrical connection of the module. The major reasons for using two glass
panes are high durability, low cost, and the low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) which insures that the foci
remain on the cell in at varying operating temperatures. As the CTE of glass is 3 times lower than that of aluminum for
example, it is possible to keep the focal position on the cell within 100 µm at all operating temperatures. It is important
to note that the bottom plate needs not to be thermally conductive as the heat spreading is already efficiently done by the
heat spreader for which highly thermally conductive materials are used. Glass serves also as scratch resistant cover plate.
The Fresnel lens array is replicated in one piece into a silicone rubber on glass (SOG), allowing for extremely UV stable
materials in a cost effective mass fabrication. There are also good reasons for the relatively small lens aperture: thermal
management and low module depth. In case of this primary lens, a simple heat spreader made out of a metal with a well
satisfying thermal conductance is sufficient for the thermal management. It was shown that the cell temperature in a CPV
module does not exceed 40 K above ambient temperature on average [18]. Furthermore, a small lens allows also for
small cells which are advantageous with respect to highest efficiency due to low resistance losses on the cell. The design
is kept as simple as possible in order to provide highest robustness and lowest manufacturing cost. An identity element of
a FLATCON module just consists of a primary lens and a solar cell plus bypass diode mounted on a small planar heat
spreader. This planar design can be manufactured by using standard semiconductor assembly and printed circuit board
machines. Pictures of a FLATCON Gen II module CX-75 are shown in Fig. 4. On the top of Fig. 4 right side one can see
the SOG lens array which is manufactured in one piece, on the bottom the solar cell assembly array which is
interconnected by wire bonds. Lens and bottom plate are mounted by using proven standard technologies from the
architectural glazing industry. From the very beginning, the production methods were taken into account for the module
design. The existing production line of Concentrix has a capacity of 50 modules per hour, equivalent to 30 MW annual

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 production and can be quickly scaled up on demand. Today, the FLATCON modules CX-75 have an average efficiency
of 27%.

Fig. 4: Photo of a module CX-75 (left) and view insight (right).

3.3 Field experience

A FLATCON CPV system consists of the modules, the tracker, the inverter, auxiliaries, and the control and monitoring
hardware and software. In 2008, trackers were installed with 120 Gen I modules which had an aperture of 0.24m² and
150 lenses resulting in a total module aperture of 28.8 m² per tracker. Depending on the evolution of the module
efficiency the nominal power of these trackers at a direct normal irradiation (DNI) of 850 W/m² is 5.4 – 5.6 kW.
Installations were made at the ISFOC site at Puertollano, Spain, and at a site close to Seville, Spain. The tracker has a
tracking accuracy determined to be better than 0.1° with a proprietary control system. Each of the trackers has its own
inverter which serves also as the control system of the mechanical tracking and as communication port with own IP
address. This very innovative inverter for CPV systems was developed by Fraunhofer ISE in cooperation with
Concentrix and has currently an efficiency of 96%.
In order to show the performance of a FLATCON CPV system, the field data from a demonstration system which was
put into operation at a site close to Seville, Spain, end of April 2008 are very suitable. This system has an availability of
99% over the almost two years of operation before writing this publication. In Fig. 5 the daily DNI energy (blue bars)
and the daily system AC energy efficiency (black dots) are shown. It can be seen that only in case of a low daily DNI
energy the system efficiency drops (mainly in wintertime) whereas during summertime when most of the electrical
energy is gained low system efficiency data are rare. As a result, the system AC energy over the whole operation time is
20%.

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 Fig. 5: daily DNI energy (blue bars) and daily system AC energy efficiency (black dots) of a demo system with Gen I modules
installed in 2008 close to Seville, Spain

In 2009, the same tracker has been installed but with 90 modules CX-75 (i.e. same optical aperture on the tracker). Due
to the very good and homogeneous quality of the module CX-75 which is the first CPV module produced on a fully
automated production line, the measured system efficiency even outperformed the expectations. For this type of tracker
an AC system efficiency of 25% at a DNI of 850 W/m² was measured. Such a system was installed in 2009 at the
campus of the University College of San Diego. In Fig. 6 the daily DNI energy (blue bars) and the daily system AC
energy efficiency (black dots) of the San Diego system are shown. It can be seen that only in case of a low daily DNI
energy the system efficiency drops. The system AC energy efficiency of the whole period of three months was 22%.
This is an excellent result and will be topped during summertime when the daily irradiation is higher on average.

Fig. 6: daily DNI energy (blue bars) and daily system AC energy efficiency (black dots) of a demo system with Gen II modules
installed in 2009 in San Diego, USA

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 4. CONCLUSIONS
CPV systems are not any more laboratory level new photovoltaics but a mature, field-proven technology with highest
cost reduction potential. The technology is especially suited for the hot climates in the sunniest regions of the world.
Various optical concentrators have been designed which reach satisfying optical efficiencies of more than 80%. The DC
module efficiencies reach 27% and the solar-to-grid system AC efficiencies 25%. The latter value has to be compared
with the value achieved by classical crystalline silicon PV modules which does not exceed 11 - 12% in hot climates.
Beginning of 2010, several companies have set-up production lines with double digit annual MW output. At the ISFOC
site in Spain, a 3 MW CPV power plant with III-V multijunction solar cells is to a very large part already constructed
and partially grid connected since September 2008. The field data from this installation confirm the yield predictions and
the reliability of this technology. As the industry has become mature both in manufacturing and bankability it is expected
that the first 100 MW of CPV will be installed until mid/end 2011.

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