Finalists for the CPV research and innovation award at the 1st CPV Today Awards

The 1^st CPV Today Awards Ceremony will take place on the 18^th November at the Meliá Lebreros in Seville. In its first edition, the CPV Today Awards will focus on recognising companies and individuals that have worked towards taking CPV to the next level - from the R&D efforts to the commercial stage.

The CPV research and innovation award will recognize the company that has dedicated enormous and continuous efforts in innovating towards the considerable improvement of CPV technology. The innovations/research projects can be focused in any area of CPV and should be feasible to integrate at the commercial level in the near future.

The finalists in the run up for this award are QuantaSol, Spire Semiconductor, Seprius and LPI.

QuantaSol Ltd.

QuantaSol’s ultra high efficiency CPV solar cells offer system manufacturers breakthrough performance improvements whilst driving down the cost per kWh. QuantaSol has successfully demonstrated world record efficiencies on single junction cells and has now developed class-leading triple junction devices.

Unique quantum well IP enables QuantaSol to spectrally ‘tune’ its cells to absorb and convert more available light for maximum energy harvesting and efficiency gains. QuantaSol can tailor cell designs to optimise them for different spectral conditions, depending on the end CPV system’s geographic deployment.

QuantaSol’s cells achieve maximum efficiency and power output in ‘real world’ conditions, whereas most existing cells on the market today are only performance-optimised under ‘standard’ AM1.5d G173-03 laboratory test conditions.

Through its cost-conscious approach and real-world performance focus, QuantaSol’s technology is increasing the number of areas where CPV is commercially viable and therefore expanding the market for everyone involved in CPV.

Spire Semiconductor

The Bi-Facial Growth technique has enabled next generation CPV cell efficiency above and beyond current 3-jct cells on Germanium.  A world record cell efficiency of 42.3% has been verified by NREL. 

The average manufacturing efficiency of the cell at 500-sun concentration (AM1.5D, 25C, 1000W/m2) is greater than 41.5%.  This new approach uses an optimized InGaP/GaAs/InGaAs (3jct) design and is highly manufacturable as it does not require difficult processing steps such as epitaxial lift-off or substrate removal.

This new approach will enable system manufacturers to enhance their overall performance and efficiency, which will ultimately enable a lower LCOE and more rapid adoption of CPV technology.

Semprius

Semprius’ HCPV module employs a large array of microcells that reduces cost while increasing performance and reliability. Each microcell is a gallium arsenide solar cell that measures 600 microns by 600 microns and is less than 10 microns thick.

Semprius’ micro-transfer transfer printer lifts off and transfers successive arrays of microcells from the source wafer to a low cost receiver substrate, providing significantly higher yield, throughput and scalability than alternative epitaxially lift-off approaches. After all of the microcells are transferred, the source wafer is re-used.

Microcells enable the use of a low cost optics architecture. A plano-convex silicone-on-glass lens array concentrates the sunlight 1,100 times onto a small, inexpensive glass ball lens, providing a +/-0.8 degree acceptance angle. The short optical path minimizes thickness and weight. The backplane is sufficient for dissipating the low amount of heat from each microcell, eliminating the need for heat sinks and reducing cost.

LPI

Light Prescriptions Innovators (LPI) is a world leader in the field of nonimaging optics. The firm provides design, prototype fabrication and mass production of optics that make a positive contribution in energy savings today. LPI specializes in state-of-the-art optical solutions to problems where the most efficient transfer of light at the lowest possible cost is the goal, such as CPV. LPI’s advanced designs do not complicate the technological feasibility: in fact they facilitate it. Such was the case with the BOEING-XR700 system, or, more recently, the Fresnel Köhler (FK) concentrator, an achromatic and compact device (f-number = 1) that splits the conventional Fresnel system into 4 sectors to achieve outstanding performance features:

• High concentration with looser aiming and manufacturing tolerances
• Very high efficiency at array level (minimizing mismatch losses)
• Perfectly-uniform square irradiance on the solar cell.

Two FK prototypes have been developed thus far for two major companies, achieving outstanding results. In the case of PIRELLI, the measured performance has matched the simulations at the first try, with electrical efficiencies beyond 32% at T_cell=25ºC, and Concentration-Acceptance angle products achieving the theoretical limit for this technology (±1.26º at 576×).

The Awards Ceremony will take place in conjunction with the 3^rd Concentrated Photovoltaics Summit  this 18 – 19 November in Seville.

Contact:

CPV Today Awards

awards@cpvtoday.com

+44 (0) 207 375 7187