Embodied Energy and Cost Assessments of a Concentrating Photovoltaic Module

Abstract

This paper focuses on the embodied energy and cost assessments of a static concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) module in comparison to the flat photovoltaic (PV) module. The CPV module employs a specific concentrator design from the Genetically Optimised Circular Rotational Square Hyperboloid (GOCRSH) concentrators, labelled as GOCRSH_A. Firstly, it discussed previous research on life cycle analyses for PV and CPV modules. Next, it compared the energy embodied in the materials of the GOCRSH_A module to the energy embodied in the materials of a flat PV module of the same electrical output. Lastly, a comparison in terms of cost is presented between the analysed GOCRSH_A module and the flat PV module. It was found that the GOCRSH_A module showed a reduction in embodied energy of 17% which indicates a reduction in embodied carbon. In terms of cost, the costs for the GOCRSH_A module were calculated to be 1.71 times higher than the flat PV module of the same electrical output. It is concluded that a trade-off is required between the embodied energy and cost impacts in order to bring this CPV technology into the market.

Optimizing the Packing Density of Building Integrated Concentrating Photovoltaic Systems for Improved Performance and Reduced Embodied Carbon Through a Novel Polygonal Concentrator

“…The presence of large spaces between the concentrators or LCPV devices in a BICPV module, as shown in Fig. 1, is an indication of low packing density which could potentially cause the loss of convertible solar energy [4]. In [4], the authors stated that, increasing the packing density could reduce the overall embodied energy and embodied carbon which can be achieved by rearranging the LCPV devices in the BICPV module, but this has not been addressed in other CPV studies.…”

“…Only recently, Tamuno-Ibuomi et al [5], have proposed a novel 3D static low concentrating hexagonal photovoltaic (LCHPV) device, a polygonal BICPV system called 3D Hex concentrator that offers a high packing density (HPD) for the BICPV system. The authors in [5], conducted a theoretical comparative analysis on the packing densities of three 3D BICPV systems with LPD profiles: (i) proposed 3D Hex (ii) 3D genetically optimised circular rotational square hyperboloid (GOCRSH) [4] and (iii) 3D Square Elliptical Hyperboloid (SEH) [2]. It was found that the proposed 3D Hex concentrator can provide a packing efficiency of 89.4% while the packing efficiencies of the 3D GOCRSH and 3D SEH devices were 76.0% and 71.8% respectively at LPD conditions.…”