Refractive concentrator optics architectures, tracker precision, and cumulative energy harvest

Effective cost-reduction of tracked concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) solar power systems must optimize engineering of tracker precision against the angular acceptance of the concentrator optics. Wider CPV module angular acceptance allows cost reduction through relaxed tracker pointing precision. We assess field performance of a two-dimensional CPV tracker, and study several refractive concentrator optics architectures using triple-junction solar cells, including on-sun measurements of angular response compared to ray-tracing models, and cumulative energy harvest yield as a function of tracker pointing precision.