High-concentrator photovoltaic systems configuration and inverters

A high-concentrator photovoltaic (HCPV) system is the result of the electrical interconnection of several CPV modules with additional components denominated balance of system. The wide variety of elements that compose a module makes possible different types of HCPV systems, although the most widespread is the point-focus pedestal type. Among the elements that compose an HCPV system, the inverter, which has been studied deeply for flat-PV systems, should be adapted to the particularities of HCPV technology. A different definition of weighted efficiency is proposed that has been adapted to an HCPV system located in southern Spain. This definition is compared with other ones proposed by some authors within this technology and also with the most used conventional PV systems definitions, which are the European and Californian efficiencies. It is highlighted that the differences are minimal. Beyond that, a novel classification of the most common interconnection configurations is proposed and some experiments were performed to show that the maximum power point tracker methods tradi- tionally used for standard PV systems are somehow also valid for HCPV systems. © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015