Monitoring the CPV Market
Hansjörg Lerchenmüller, CEO of Concentrix Solar, Offers Insight on Large Installations
CPV Today — Jan 12, 2010
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“CPV technology is still young and not well-known, and therefore an underestimated technology,” said Lerchenmüller. “In order to advance the development of CPV and to establish it as a mainstream energy source, the whole CPV industry needs to join forces. We expect the most advanced companies to install large-scale projects in 2010 which will show that CPV is already bankable and a serious alternative to conventional technologies at locations with a high amount of DNI.”
CPV Today: How do you assess the current business environment for the CPV industry? What have been the major developments for the industry as a whole?
Hansjörg Lerchenmüller: The perspective for the CPV industry is great. In particular, we anticipate that CPV medium to long term will become very successful because of its definite advantages in comparison to conventional solar technologies such as high efficiencies, less land use, high scalability and the cost reduction potential, and will succeed in regions with high direct solar irradiation. In 2009, first CPV companies were able to ramp-up new industrial productions lines or increase their production capacities and are now able to install larger projects in 2010.
CPV Today: How do you assess the progress made by your company this year and what is going to be critical going forward?
Lerchenmüller: The most important step for Concentrix Solar was to become bankable. We received the confirmation that a leading German project financing bank is ready to finance projects based on our technology and we are currently going through a similar process with other banks as well. Moreover, we increased the AC efficiency of our systems to 25 percent under full operating conditions in the field. The critical challenge for 2010 will be to grow fast enough and to increase production capacity to lower our costs by going into bigger volumes of production.
CPV Today: The new module generation ‘CX-75’ has an average efficiency of 27.2 percent. Concentrix has highlighted that the results achieved with its fully-automated production line were even more consistent than expected. Can you elaborate on what has been key as far as achieving such results is concerned?
Lerchenmüller: The key factor for our high system efficiency is very low module variability. All the modules must be identical. At Concentrix Solar, quality and precision are put on the highest level. This is why we achieve high efficiencies and reliable system operation. We produce our systems with a high degree of automation and with a highly trained staff. For the production of our CPV modules, we use machines for series production which have demonstrated reliability over years of long-term operation in the fields of electronics, circuit boards and insulating glass production. For example, the precision with which we mount the cells on the base plate is at 25 µm unusually high. This ensures a constant high average module efficiency of 27.2 percent.
CPV Today: Concentrix recently stated that the high efficiency achieved in San Diego shows that concentrator PV systems, which only sustain one third of the energy loss of conventional silicon PV power plants, are ideal for locations with high ambient temperatures. How do you expect to benefit from demonstrations going forward? What sort of favorable results or deals do you expect?
Lerchenmüller: To show real figures is the key to convince customers and investors of CPV technology. With our systems, we are able to demonstrate that we have a consistent energy production throughout the day.
Concentrix Solar will install its technology in the MASDAR project in Abu Dhabi to proceed with the work which was started at the ISFOC project in Spain. The main goal is to gain more data regarding the application of this technology in hot desert regions and to show that CPV is perfectly suited for desert environments. CPV systems are ideally suited for the application in locations like Abu Dhabi because they are designed for desert-like environmental conditions: they require little space, they have a high electricity yield and small water demand. This makes it possible to produce power sustainably and reliably in very hot, arid and highly populated locations — exactly when the power demand is highest. The installation in Abu Dhabi is of particular importance to Concentrix Solar for the further development of the local markets in the Middle East. We expect a high demand for CPV systems in regions like the Middle East and the southwest United States in the next years.
To hear directly from Hansjörg Lerchenmüller, be sure to attend the 2nd CPV Summit USA, Feb. 2-3, 2010 in San Diego. For more information, visit www.cpvtoday.com/usa or contact Heidi Hafes at heidi@newsolartoday.com.
