The EUCLIDES prototype: An efficient parabolic trough for PV concentration

Author

Sala, Guillaume ; Arboiro, J.C. ; Luque, A. ; Zamorano, J.C. ; Miñano, J.C. ; Dramsch, C. ; Bruton, T. ; Cunningham, D.

Author_Institution

Inst. de Energia Solar, Univ. Politecnica de Madrid, Spain

fYear

1996

fDate

13-17 May 1996

Firstpage

1207

Lastpage

1210

Abstract

The project EUCLIDES, subsidized by the European Union, had the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of cost reduction using reflective parabolic trough solar concentrators. The concentrator is conceived as one axis, horizontal tracking North/South oriented array, 72 meters long. The geometric concentration ratio is 32X. A prototype, 24 meters long, has been developed and installed in Madrid, Spain. The overall efficiencies of 14 series connected receiving modules is 15.0% at 25°C. Such modules consist of 12 BP Solar SATURN concentrator solar cells, fully encapsulated. Costs analysis, after the prototype construction, shows that a total cost of 3.30 $/Wp for a grid connected solar power plant is achievable at the 10 MW production level. Also parabolic troughs have proved their suitability as PV concentrators

Keywords

photovoltaic power systems; project engineering; semiconductor device testing; solar cell arrays; solar cells; solar energy concentrators; solar power stations; 10 MW; 15 percent; 24 m; 25 C; 72 m; EUCLIDES project; Europe; PV concentrators; SATURN concentrator solar cell arrays; Spain; costs analysis; geometric concentration ratio; grid-connected solar power plant; reflective parabolic trough solar concentrator; Aluminum; Availability; Costs; Focusing; Insulation life; Mirrors; Optical films; Prototypes; Saturn; Sun;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 1996., Conference Record of the Twenty Fifth IEEE

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

ISSN

0160-8371

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3166-4

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PVSC.1996.564348

Filename

564348