Increasing the Output Power and Efficiency of Solar Panel by Using Concentrator Photovoltaics (CPV)

Because of gradual depletion of non-renewable energy resources, scientists have been trying for decades to search for new alternative energy sources.  Solar energy being a clean, environment-friendly and profusely available energy source can either be used as heat or electricity. Due to increase in population and industries electricity demand is increasing day by day. Pakistan is facing heavy electricity short fall for a decade. Therefore, government of Pakistan is encouraging people to investment money in solar system installation. Recently, a 100 MW Quaid-e-Azam solar park has started working in Bahawalpur through huge investment by government of Pakistan. Solar power conversion to electricity through PV cells has become more favored but high price of cells and lower efficiency has obstructed its use in developing countries. One way to reduce the high cost per kWh of electricity is to enhance the performance of PV module systems. Low cost reflecting mirrors, lenses and light focusing concentrators may be a good solution. These mirrors concentrate the light intensity over the whole surface of the panel. The effect is more electrons are generated and hence the output power of solar module increases. But the consequence of increased light radiation for longer time is the raised temperature of the panel which would inversely reduce the open circuit voltage (Voc) and decrease the efficiency. To tackle this problem, a proper cooling system may be needed to sustain the PV module performance. This paper presents the comparison performance of a PV module without reflecting mirror and with reflecting mirror and manual tracking. The values of short circuit current and open circuit voltage were measured under different conditions of tracking. The output power was calculated and the values were obtained for different combinations. Findings from the experiments present that through using concentrators, a 25% mean rise of short-circuit (Isc) currents with sun tracking, can be achieved. Results also show that PV module with only tracking gives higher output than the system without tracking; but the system with reflecting mirror and tracking gives greater output power. Attractive results were obtained with concentrators and mirrors installed with the PV module. With the help of negligible power consumption by concentrators and reduced complexity compared to sun tracking, use of concentrator or reflecting mirrors would be economical compared to sun tracking. In addition to that, setup of reflectors and concentrators is easy. They are cost-effective, easy as well as don’t need any further maintenance or other complex equipments.