Optical Element Design for the Retrofit of the World's First Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) Power Plant

Conference · Mon Aug 26 00:00:00 EDT 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5124207· OSTI ID:1566046

Khonkar, Hussam ^[1]; Alharbi, Fahad ^[1]; Alyahyah, Abdulaziz ^[1]; Miller, David C ^[2]; Leutz, Ralf ^[3]

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1. King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology
2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
3. leopil - Leutz Optics and Illumination UG (haftungsbeschrankt)

The world's oldest, and still functional, Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) power plant originally rated at 350 kW, and is situated 50 km from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. There are ongoing efforts to retrofit the modules with new secondary optics and triple-junction cell devices. The paper characterizes the initial optical train, whose design is non-conventional in its use of a two-area primary Fresnel lens. The first generation of a retrofit receiver package is described. Challenges beyond the optical design are encountered, including tracking and structural mechanics.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1566046
• Report Number(s): NREL/CP-5K00-74937
• Resource Relation: Conference: Presented at the 15th International Conference on Concentrator Photovoltaic Systems (CPV-15), 25-27 March 2019, Fes, Morocco
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
structural mechanics
power plants
photovoltaics
optical elements
lenses