Large-scale and long-term CPV power plant field results

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is twofold: Firstly, we define three performance metrics to evaluate Concentrator Photovoltaic (CPV) power plants, namely performance ratio, performance index and availability. Secondly, we apply these metrics to analyze more than six years of field data from two-long running, small power plants, and some weeks of field data from one large-scale power plant, all based on Soitec’s CPV technology. We find that all three plants deliver more energy than expected and identify two points for improving the energy modeling of large-scale plants with central inverters.