Concentrating photovoltaic retrofit for existing parabolic trough solar collectors: Design, experiments, and levelized cost of electricity

Otanicar, Todd P.; Wingert, Rhetta; Orosz, Matthew; McPheeters, Clay

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114751

Title: Concentrating photovoltaic retrofit for existing parabolic trough solar collectors: Design, experiments, and levelized cost of electricity

Journal Article · Wed Mar 11 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Applied Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.114751· OSTI ID:1799009

Otanicar, Todd P. ^[1]; Wingert, Rhetta ^[2]; Orosz, Matthew ^[2]; McPheeters, Clay ^[3]

Univ. of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK (United States); Boise State Univ., ID (United States)
Univ. of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK (United States)
SolAero Technologies Corp, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Photovoltaics and concentrating solar thermal power are two ways for generating electricity from sunlight, albeit through different methods. Parabolic trough style powerplants represent 3.6 GW of electricity production, but many of these plants are aging and being replaced with photovoltaics. An alternative option that could be employed to leverage the sunk capital cost associated with the primary optics would be the design of a pure photovoltaic retrofit working within the existing plant architecture. Here, a secondary optical concentrator is designed to use the existing primary optics of a parabolic trough type solar thermal powerplant. The design is a v-shaped secondary concentrator resulting in a predicted concentration ratio on a 20 mm wide target of 94. The concentrating photovoltaic receiver for retrofit of an RP-3 based parabolic trough has been constructed using multi-junction concentrator photovoltaic cells and experimentally demonstrated here for the first time. Calculated performance of the cells based on cell specifications should result in 31% efficiency at 85 °C. On-sun efficiencies were measured at an average value of 21% with operational temperatures between 55 and 120 °C. Levelized cost of electricity calculations predict the system to have the potential to be below 7¢/kWh based on predicted efficiencies and 13¢/kWh based on the measured values at cell costs of $5/cm².

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)

Grant/Contract Number:: AR0000508

OSTI ID:: 1799009

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1604102

Journal Information:: Applied Energy, Vol. 265; ISSN 0306-2619

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 19 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (25)

A review on the development of photovoltaic/concentrated solar power (PV-CSP) hybrid systems Ju, Xing; Xu, Chao; Hu, Yangqing Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 161 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2016.12.004	journal	March 2017
Compact high-flux two-stage solar collectors based on tailored edge-ray concentrators Friedman, Robert P.; Gordon, J. M.; Ries, Harald Solar Energy, Vol. 56, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1016/0038-092X(96)00015-1	journal	June 1996
Design and simulation of a low concentrating photovoltaic/thermal system Rosell, J. I.; Vallverdú, X.; Lechón, M. A. Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 46, Issue 18-19 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2005.01.012	journal	November 2005
Band-Gap Tuned Direct Absorption for a Hybrid Concentrating Solar Photovoltaic/Thermal System Otanicar, Todd P.; Chowdhury, Ihtesham; Prasher, Ravi Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 133, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4004708	journal	October 2011
A miniature concentrating photovoltaic and thermal system Kribus, Abraham; Kaftori, Daniel; Mittelman, Gur Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 47, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2006.01.013	journal	December 2006
High Capacity Factor CSP-PV Hybrid Systems Green, A.; Diep, C.; Dunn, R. Energy Procedia, Vol. 69 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2015.03.218	journal	May 2015
Parametric analysis of a hybrid solar concentrating photovoltaic/concentrating solar power (CPV/CSP) system Han, Xue; Zhao, Guankun; Xu, Chao Applied Energy, Vol. 189 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.12.049	journal	March 2017
A transmissive, spectrum-splitting concentrating photovoltaic module for hybrid photovoltaic-solar thermal energy conversion Xu, Qi; Ji, Yaping; Riggs, Brian Solar Energy, Vol. 137 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2016.08.057	journal	November 2016
Hybrid solar collector using nonimaging optics and photovoltaic components Winston, Roland; Yablonovitch, Eli; Jiang, Lun SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, SPIE Proceedings https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2191943	conference	August 2015
Field testing of a spectrum-splitting transmissive concentrator photovoltaic module Robertson, John; Riggs, Brian; Islam, Kazi Renewable Energy, Vol. 139 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.02.117	journal	August 2019
A hybrid PV/T collector using spectrally selective absorbing nanofluids Crisostomo, Felipe; Hjerrild, Natasha; Mesgari, Sara Applied Energy, Vol. 193 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.02.028	journal	May 2017
Experimental and optical performances of a solar CPV device using a linear Fresnel reflector concentrator Wang, Gang; Wang, Fasi; Shen, Fan Renewable Energy, Vol. 146 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.08.090	journal	February 2020
Parametric analysis of a coupled photovoltaic/thermal concentrating solar collector for electricity generation Otanicar, Todd; Chowdhury, Ihtesham; Phelan, Patrick E. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 108, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3514590	journal	December 2010
Experimental investigations into low concentrating line axis solar concentrators for CPV applications Singh, H.; Sabry, M.; Redpath, D. A. G. Solar Energy, Vol. 136 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2016.07.029	journal	October 2016
Spectral beam splitting in hybrid PV/T parabolic trough systems for power generation Widyolar, Bennett; Jiang, Lun; Winston, Roland Applied Energy, Vol. 209 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.10.078	journal	January 2018
Envisioning advanced solar electricity generation: Parametric studies of CPV/T systems with spectral filtering and high temperature PV Otanicar, Todd P.; Theisen, Stephen; Norman, Tyler Applied Energy, Vol. 140 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.11.073	journal	February 2015
On the temperature dependence of photovoltaic module electrical performance: A review of efficiency/power correlations Skoplaki, E.; Palyvos, J. A. Solar Energy, Vol. 83, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2008.10.008	journal	May 2009
U.S. Solar Photovoltaic System Cost Benchmark: Q1 2018 Fu, Ran; Feldman, David J.; Margolis, Robert M. https://doi.org/10.2172/1483475	report	November 2018
A 100-sun linear photovoltaic solar concentrator design from inexpensive commercial components Gordon, J. M. Solar Energy, Vol. 57, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0038-092X(96)00102-8	journal	October 1996
Thermal and electrical performance of the dense-array concentrating photovoltaic (DA-CPV) system under non-uniform illumination Ju, Xing; Pan, Xinyu; Zhang, Zheyang Applied Energy, Vol. 250 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.05.083	journal	September 2019
A Photographic Flux Mapping Method for Concentrating Solar Collectors and Receivers Ho, Clifford K.; Khalsa, Siri S. Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, Vol. 134, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4006892	journal	July 2012
Theory and design of line-to-point focus solar concentrators with tracking secondary optics Cooper, Thomas; Ambrosetti, Gianluca; Pedretti, Andrea Applied Optics, Vol. 52, Issue 35 https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.52.008586	journal	January 2013
Experimental evaluation of a prototype hybrid CPV/T system utilizing a nanoparticle fluid absorber at elevated temperatures Otanicar, Todd; Dale, John; Orosz, Matthew Applied Energy, Vol. 228 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.07.055	journal	October 2018
Experimental study and optical analyses of a multi-segment plate (MSP) concentrator for solar concentration photovoltaic (CPV) system Wang, Gang; Wang, Fasi; Chen, Zeshao Renewable Energy, Vol. 134 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.11.009	journal	April 2019
The promise of concentrators Swanson, Richard M. Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, Vol. 8, Issue 1, p. 93-111 https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-159X(200001/02)8:1<93::AID-PIP303>3.0.CO;2-S	journal	January 2000

Similar Records

Annual simulation of photovoltaic retrofits within existing parabolic trough concentrating solar powerplants

Journal Article · Sat Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Solar Energy · OSTI ID:1799009

Goel, Nipun; O'Hern, Hannah; Orosz, Matthew; +1 more

Enhancement of Optical Efficiency of CSP Mirrors for Reducing O&M Cost via Near-Continuous Operation of Self-Cleaning Electrodynamic Screens (EDS). Final Report

Technical Report · Mon May 11 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · OSTI ID:1799009

Mazumder, Malay K.; Horenstein, Mark N; Joglekar, Nitin; +5 more

Wind Loading on Parabolic Trough Collectors: Wind and Structural Loads Measurements at an Operational Powerplant

Conference · Mon Jul 24 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · OSTI ID:1799009

Egerer, Ulrike; Dana, Scott; Xia, Geng; +2 more

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
photovoltaic (PV)
concentrating solar power (CSP)
solar energy
retrofit

Title: Concentrating photovoltaic retrofit for existing parabolic trough solar collectors: Design, experiments, and levelized cost of electricity

Citation Formats

References (25)

Similar Records

Related Subjects