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The C word: CPV Consortium hopes to sharpen focus on concentrator solar PV sector

24 September 2008 | By Tom Cheyney | Chip Shots

cpv_consortium_logo One part of the photovoltaic technology spectrum that has garnered beaucoup venture-capital funding and stands on the verge of commercialization is CPV. Many millions of dollars and Euro have been invested, and the first megawatts of CPV-powered systems are coming online in California, Spain, and elsewhere. Before the nascent sector gets beyond baby steps though, it would be helpful to nail down just what the "C" in CPV stands for.

All agree that "concentrate" is the root word, as in to concentrate the sun's energy through an optical scheme onto solar cells, often of the high-efficiency III-V variety, usually grouped together in a receiver array and positioned inside a larger system consisting of a dish, bowl, module, or even a balloon. But in researching the sector, I find there are at least four common variations on that pesky "C word": concentrating, concentrator, concentrated, and concentration. (I've left off "concentratable," although I did see it in one place.)

Some of the loose verbiage stems from the usage. If the C word is modified by "high" or "low," the nod goes to "concentration," as in "high-concentration PV." If the term reflects the basic technology, "concentrating" and "concentrator" get the most play.

"Concentrated" appears to be the least in vogue. Perhaps that's because it suggests something that's passive or that has already taken place, and CPV proponents would prefer to use an active, in-process term, reflective of all those photons pouring down into arrays positioned in those areas of the globe where the direct normal irradiation (DNI) from old Sol is particularly intense.

But I must end my opening digression before I lose my concentration, and focus on what this blog column is really about: the imminent launch of the CPV Consortium, a new global industry group representing the diversity of the entire C word value chain--from cell makers and materials houses, to panel suppliers and tracker firms, integrators, power generation concerns, universities, research outfits, and governmental organizations.

I spoke with Nancy Hartsoch, VP of marketing for SolFocus, one of the group's founding member companies along with Concentrix Solar, Emcore, Veeco, ISFOC, and Isofoton. Nancy has agreed to hold down the consortium director's chair for the first year. When I pointed out taking the gig meant she would have yet another hat to wear, she quipped: "I think it's a hat that the industry needs to have worn. So when the (director) vote came down, I couldn't say no because I pushed too hard for the last year!"

The idea of a CPV-specific industry group has been percolating for about a year and a half, with active planning taking place over the past year. "There's alot of pieces that come into play in CPV, which requires more of an infrastructure in the industry," Nancy explained. "The companies that were the leaders in the field got together and said there's things we need to do collaboratively so that investors, corporate developers, and utilities really can understand what they're being told."

At first, she said the CPV group didn't want to start up a new association. "Our initial role was to figure out which industry organizations exist that we could operate under, because no one really wanted to create another organization. But it came down to the fact that what we're dealing with is quite different than regular solar technology. Also, we're operating globally, while almost all the other associations are national.

"We felt that we had to come together as a group, that we had to accomplish some things like make sure there was credibility to the performance claims, that there was thought put into safety and regulation for the technology, and that there was the infrastructure needed to make it successful.

"We want to take care and make sure that it isn't doing what other organizations already do, but focuses on those issues that are concentrator PV specific. We want to provide a place where CPV companies can have their voices heard."

I asked her about whether the new consortium might become a standards-making body or work within the existing standards groups. "Our goal is to work with the current standards organizations and provide the input and direction that we can in order to further advance this technology. The areas where we would be looking include, how is performance measured? When people talk about efficiency, what kind of efficiency are they talking about?

"There's no common language in the CPV industry when one company records an efficiency number in an apples-to-apples comparison with another company. When it comes to performance metrics, cost analysis metrics, and production metrics, we certainly want to set some guidelines. We want to make it much clearer for everyone to be able to adopt and deploy the technology."

One area of particular concern, Nancy says, is how people come up with those levelized cost of energy (LCOE) numbers. "One of the problems with that LCOE metric is there are no standards for how the models are written or run and they're invisible to the person receiving the data. So any two companies could have their own LCOE models, and they have so many variables and are very complex.

"One thing we're looking at, is it feasible to have a certification from the consortium on the models themselves and make sure that things are compared equally? It may not be reasonable, it may not be possible or viable, but those are the kinds of things we're looking at.

The association members are keen to make sure that the entire potential CPV ecosystem has a good handle on where things stand in the growth curve of the industry, according to Nancy. "How do we improve the knowledge to the customers, how do we reduce any perceived risk that developers and financers have of new technology, how do we make sure we're telling an accurate and fair story?

"All of the members of the consortium have all had the fear that when a lot of new people who take a new technology into a market, there's a real tendency sometimes to overcommit. We believe that with this technology, we don't want to do that. It has a future, it has a strong cost story, but you don't want it to be pushed beyond what it can do in a reasonable period of time, so we want to have industry agreement on the realities of that."

Since Nancy is a marketing person, it figures that one of the group's "initial charters" resides in her field of expertise. "We want to get people to understand what [CPV] is and where it fits. This is a technology that you are not going to put in Germany, you need to put it someplace with alot of direct sunlight. If you put our technology in the southwest U.S. or in southern Europe, it will be a much lower cost alternative to traditional PV.

"From a global standpoint, all solar is good, it all fits different places for different reasons. We want to make sure it's a level playing field in terms of the metrics and measurements and all those things.

As director, Nancy says her goal "is to have 30-50 members by end of this year, and six months later, that there's at least a hundred member companies." Certain key research organizations--like NREL, Fraunhofer, et al.--have been or will be invited to join the group free of charge. She's looking to hire a "dedicated administration and membership type person," with a larger, permanent staff coming on board as the consortium grows.

The consortium will have its first public rollout at the Solar Power International event, with a CPV 101 course offered as part of the show taking place Oct. 13-16 in San Diego.

Maybe by then Nancy and her fellow CPV pioneers can decide what that C word really stands for.