High concentration photovoltaics - state-of-the-art and novel concepts

The paper presents a discussion of the state-of-the-art, novel concepts and the perspectives of high concentration photovoltaic HCPV technology. Commercially available HCPV generator designs are based on moving up to hundreds of square meters of mirrors or Fresnel lens modules in two-axis tracking units deliverings tens of kW of peak power. These units usually have a mass of up to several tons because of mechanical stability and wind load reasons and therefore have to be considered not suitable for the particularly rapidly expanding roof-mounted grid-connected market. In the present work a novel concept is presented which is based on tracking on the cell rather than the module level. This building integration HCPV design concept involves moving the concentration optics inside a stationary glass housing that will protect the micro-trackers from wind strains.