What
if first ranker shakes hand with second ranker, what if they start
putting collaborative work to do certain project even more effective.
Definitely result would be even better than individual and exactly
same thing is happening in somehow lagging CPV technology world.
Amonix
and Solar Junction both are currently highest efficiency record
holder were hoping to put their effort to boost performance, and
lower costs, to finally fulfill CPV's promise of lower levelized cost
of electricity (LCOE) compared with other solar technologies.
Solar
Junction topped 44 percent efficiency with its multijunction solar
cells. Amonix set the top market for a CPV module in May 2012 at 33.5
percent. Putting the two together will push the end efficiency
significantly higher, they believe, which is the key to reducing
total system costs over time. And that is CPV's real selling point
over other solar PV technologies: despite higher upfront costs, it
makes up for that with lower LCOE over the system's lifetime.
This
new agreement lets the companies formally open their process IP
playbooks and determine how much more efficiency their combined
technology would achieve, and where those refinements can be made.
Amonix also likes that Solar Junction's target sunlight concentration
is around the same that it uses (900-1000×), which they believe is
the optimal level balancing cost, efficiency, and long-term
reliability, McCullough said. A higher level of concentration (up to
2000x) is not cost-effective, and lower levels of concentration don't
squeeze out enough efficiency per surface area.
Amonix
believes that whether materials, optics, or in ramping
economies-of-scale and standardizing processes can contribute to
reduce overall cost, but conversion efficiency can make larger
difference between conventional PV and CPV. Higher conversion
efficiency means more output in a given surface area, and that
reduces the cost of everything else, from modules to tracking systems
to operations/maintenance.
To read more on Solar Junction's record breaking Cells click here
Article Written by Sumit V Nawathe
For More Details contact: SNawathe@renewindians.com
