SolFocus installs CPV array in Spain

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.energy-business-review.com/article_news.asp?guid=AB87C5E2-38B8-4617-9CF6-60634654CF3D

SolFocus installs CPV array in Spain

15th January 2008
By Staff Writer

California-based solar energy solutions provider SolFocus and Spain's Institute of Concentration Photovoltaics Systems have announced the installation of the first concentrator photovoltaic array at the institute's 3MW project in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.

SolFocus said that the installation is the first 200kW of the 0.5MW that it will install for the solar initiative, which is aimed at accelerating the development and adoption of concentrator photovoltaic array (CPV) technology.

The Institute of Concentration Photovoltaics Systems (ISFOC) project is sponsored by the government of Castilla-La Mancha. The program supports participating companies by carrying out important research and development efforts on their installed systems.

SolFocus noted that it broke ground at the ISFOC Puertollano site in October 2007 with the civil construction and underground electrical work. The installed array is rated at 6.2kW and has reportedly performed over its design output.

Dr Pedro Banda, director general of the ISFOC, said: "This is a very important occasion as it brings the industry one step closer towards commercial deployment of CPV technologies. For this unprecedented and ambitious program, the ISFOC has selected CPV technologies that are the most advanced and have the brightest futures."

[skids]

1. If you don't include the mirrors and housing...

...the actual solar cells used here cost less than $1 per peak watt.

All any of these concentrator companies need is to make the optics cost less than $0.20 per watt or so and they'll be able to compete head-to-head with CIGS when that starts to get cheaper. The winners will be the folks that can line up cheap mass-manufactured component production the fastest.