Outdoor Performance Comparison of Concentrator Photovoltaic and Flat Plate Photovoltaic Systems

Output characteristics of tracking type concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system, multi-crystalline silicon (mc-Si) PV system, CIGS PV system, and amorphous silicon (a-Si) PV system were analyzed in the data period of a year from August 2013 to July 2014. In this study, we analyzed the influence of environmental factors using average photon energy (APE) and temperature of solar cell (Tcell). The characteristics of 14 kW CPV system, 50 kW mc-Si PV system, 60 kW CIGS PV system, 1.35 kW a-Si PV system were evaluated and compared. As a result, the output performance of CPV was highest between the four systems at the most frequent conditions in the outdoor environment.