Life Cycle Assessment of a Rotationally Asymmetrical Compound Parabolic Concentrator (RACPC)

Abstract

Integrating a concentrator into the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) design has resulted in a new technology known as the building integrated concentrating photovoltaic (BICPV). The rotationally asymmetrical compound parabolic concentrator (RACPC) is an example of a concentrator design that has been explored for use in BICPV. This paper evaluates the life cycle assessment (LCA) for the RACPC-PV module, which has never been explored before. The LCA of the RACPC-PV module has found a cost reduction of 29.09% and a reduction of 11.76% of embodied energy material manufacture when compared to a conventional solar photovoltaic (PV) module. The energy payback time for an RACPC-PV and a conventional PV was calculated to be 8.01 and 6.63 years, respectively. Moreover, the energy return on investment ratio was calculated to be 3.12 for a conventional PV and 3.77 for an RACPC-PV.

Embodied Energy and Cost Assessments of a Concentrating Photovoltaic Module

“…Zawadzki et al [27] carried out an LCA on a rotationally asymmetrical compound parabolic concentrator (RACPC) that has a geometrical concentration ratio of 2.67× and integrated with mono-c-Si cells. They found that 67% of the total embodied energy is put towards the manufacture of PV material for a conventional PV module whereas for the RACPC-PV module, 50% of all total embodied energy is used in the manufacture of all concentrators made from Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA).…”