New trends in photovoltaic economy and development of a different technological spectral approach in concentrator photovoltaics

Abstract

The photovoltaic energy based on Silicon has a technological maturity as a result of years of experience, but nowadays there is an inflection point regarding the continuity of its development which is related to its proximity to the maximum theoretic efficiency. Therefore new approaches and applications are necessary. The new approaches are focused on the self-consumption concept, where the enduser turns into an electricity producer. Despite the feasibility of the grid-parity in Spain, a new economic calculus methodology is proposed based on the consumption profiles and the electricity tariffs, where cases of non-profitability will be detected. Regarding the technological alternatives, the Concentrated Photovoltaic appears. One of the research lines falls on the further study of the sensitivity and limitation of the high-efficiency solar cells regarding the solar spectrum. The technological contribution in this thesis is the development of an experimental setup capable of measuring the Iimiting subcell in these multijunctions devices