Transforming the cost of solar-to-electrical energy conversion: Integrating thin-film GaAs solar cells with non-tracking mini-concentrators

Kyusang Lee; Jaesang Lee; Bryan A Mazor; Stephen R Forrest

doi:10.1038/lsa.2015.61

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Transforming the cost of solar-to-electrical energy conversion: Integrating thin-film GaAs solar cells with non-tracking mini-concentrators

Original Articles

- Transforming the cost of solar-to-electrical energy conversion: Integrating thin-film GaAs solar cells with non-tracking mini-concentrators
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 4, Issue 2, (2015)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
  2.Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
  3.Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Author bio：
  
  S Forrest, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA Email: stevefor@umich.edu
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/lsa.2015.61
  CLC：
- Published：2015-06，
  
  Published Online：05 February 2015，
  
  Received：08 November 2014，
  
  Revised：02 February 2015，
  
  Accepted：04 February 2015
- Accepted：
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Lee, K. et al. Transforming the cost of solar-to-electrical energy conversion: Integrating thin-film GaAs solar cells with non-tracking mini-concentrators. Light: Science & Applications, 4, e288 (2015).
DOI：

Lee, K. et al. Transforming the cost of solar-to-electrical energy conversion: Integrating thin-film GaAs solar cells with non-tracking mini-concentrators. Light: Science & Applications, 4, e288 (2015). DOI： 10.1038/lsa.2015.61.

摘要

Abstract

Practical solar energy solutions must not only reduce the cost of the module

but also address the substantial balance of system costs. Here

we demonstrate a counter-intuitive approach based on gallium arsenide solar cells that can achieve extremely low-cost solar energy conversion with an estimated cost of only 3% that of conventional gallium arsenide solar cells using an accelerated

non-destructive epitaxial lift-off wafer recycling process along with a lightweight

thermoformed plastic

truncated mini-compound parabolic concentrator that avoids the need for active solar tracking. Using solar cell/concentrator assemblies whose orientations are adjusted only a few times per year

the annual energy harvesting is increased by 2.8 times compared with planar solar cells without solar tracking. These results represent a potentially drastic cost reduction in both the module and the balance of system costs compared with heavy

rigid conventional modules and trackers that are subject to wind loading damage and high installation costs.

关键词

Keywords

concentratorcost per Wattepitaxial lift-offplastic substratethin-film GaAs solar cell

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