Economic analysis of a novel design of microtracked concentrating photovoltaic modules

Abstract

A new design for microtracked concentrating photovoltaics (mCPVs) published by one of us in Nature Energy has the same form factor as PV. This paper analyzes the cost below which it would compete with PV in behind‐the‐meter applications for commercial electricity customers in four cities in southern United States, assuming that the only significant differences between mCPV and PV are mCPV's higher efficiency and mCPV's inability to utilize sunlight that is either diffuse or has a high angle of incidence. The analysis first optimizes PV and mCPV microgrids and then selects the battery capacity that maximizes the internal rate of return (IRR) and selects a target mCPV installed cost for which the optimal mCPV IRR matches the optimal PV IRR. The result for projects starting in 2020 is $1.2/W in Lancaster, CA and Las Vegas, cities with similar ratios of direct to total irradiance. Modesto, CA and Kansas City have target mCPV installed costs of $1.07/W and $0.94/W, respectively. The electricity tariff and battery costs impact both PV and mCPV and have a minimal effect on the mCPV cost at which the two technologies compete. mCPV occupies 33.2% less area per watt than PV reducing some components of installed cost. In 2020, target mCPV module costs are $0.33/W in Lancaster and Las Vegas, $0.25/W in Modesto, and $0.17/W in Kansas City. These target costs decline by on average 9.6% per year for projects starting 2021–2025, similar to the 9.3% rate of decline in projected PV module costs over this period.

Analysis of power generation equipment failure and influencing factors in a wind-solar power station

“…The failure types of the wind power generation equipment are mainly analyzed from the blade, pitch system , gearbox and so on, and the failure types of the photovoltaic power generation equipment are mainly analyzed from the photovoltaic module, junction box and photovoltaic inverter, due to the different fault locations. Obtain the failure types of wind power generation equipment and photovoltaic power generation equipment as shown in Table 1 [10] . After sorting out the fault types of the power generation equipment in the wind-solar power station, the statistics of fault time are carried out to obtain the fault data of the wind power generation equipment, as shown in Figure 3.…”

“…3) Due to unstable lighting conditions and frequent weather changes, the diode of the junction box will be damaged due to excessive voltage impact when the photovoltaic module is running, so the junction box diode should be replaced, and the patrol inspection of the photovoltaic module should be strengthened at the same time. If the voltage is reduced, the diode should be detected and replaced in time [10] .…”

Causes and Prevention of Photovoltaic Module Hot Spot Effect

“…Figure 2 Structure of the photovoltaic power generation system In a photovoltaic power generation system, the photovoltaic hot spot effect is a fault with a high probability of occurrence of photovoltaic modules [4] . If it is not found and dealt with in time, it will lead to the efficiency reduction of photovoltaic modules.…”

Typical Failure Causes of Photovoltaic Module

“…When a photovoltaic power generation system is running, the photovoltaic module works in such an environment, which makes its performance decline with the increase of running time, and then goes wrong, affecting the reliability of power generation [6] . Moreover, the cost of photovoltaic modules occupies a large part of photovoltaic power generation projects [7] . To improve power generation efficiency, it is necessary to extend the service life of photovoltaic modules.…”