Concentrating Solar Panels: Bringing the Highest Power and Lowest Cost to the Rooftop
Soliant Energy is a venture-capital-backed startup focused on bringing advanced concentrating solar panels to market. Our fundamental innovation is that we are the first company to develop a racking solar concentrator specifically for commercial rooftop applications, resulting in the lowest LCOE for rooftop electricity generation. Today, the commercial rooftop segment is the largest and fastest-growing market in the solar industry. Our concentrating panels can make a major contribution to the SAI's objectives: reducing the cost of solar electricity and rapidly deploying capacity. Our commercialization focus was re-shaped in 2009, shifting from an emphasis solely on panel efficiency to LCOE. Since the inception of the SAI program, LCOE has become the de facto standard for comparing commercial photovoltaic systems. While estimation and prediction models still differ, the emergence of performance-based incentive (PBI) and feed-in tariff (FIT) systems, as well as power purchase agreement (PPA) financing structures make LCOE the natural metric for photovoltaic systems. Soliant Energy has designed and demonstrated lower-cost, higher-power solar panels that consists of 6 (500X) PV module assemblies utilizing multi-junction cells and an integrated two-axis tracker. In addition, we have designed and demonstrated a prototype 1000X panel assembly with 8. Cost reductions relative to conventional flat panel PV systems were realized by (1) reducing the amount of costly semiconductor material and (2) developing strategies and processes to reduce the manufacturing costs of the entire system. Performance gains against conventional benchmarks were realized with (1) two-axis tracking and (2) higher-efficiency multi-junction PV cells capable of operating at a solar concentration ratio of 1000X (1000 kW/m2). The program objectives are: (1) Develop a tracking/concentrating solar module that has the same geometric form factor as a conventional flat, roof mounted photovoltaic (PV) panel - the Soliant module will produce more power and cost less than conventional panels of the same size; (2) Target LCOE: $0.079/kWh in 2010; (3) Target efficiency - 26% in 2010 (22% for 2008 prototype, 24% for 2009 pilot); and (4) Target performance - equivalent to 650Wp in 2010 (490W for 2008 prototype, 540W for 2009 pilot).
- Research Organization:
- Soliant Energy, Inc.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE EE Office of Solar Energy Technology (EE-2A)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC36-07GO17044
- OSTI ID:
- 1042341
- Report Number(s):
- DOEGO17044; TRN: US201213%%191
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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