Photovoltaic Panels on Cronin’s House

System Cost:$7.50 / Watt

AC

Po

wer

(kW

/ m

2 )

Research on: Reliability, Efficiency, Power forecasting

Contact: Dr. Alex Cronin, cronin@physics.arizona.edu

Power Production Time-series

100

80

60

40

20

0

Ele

ctric

ity B

ill (

$)

Year: 2005 Total: $754

Year: 2006 Total: $686

Year: 2007 Total: $555

Yr: 2008 Ttl: $159

PV system addedNovember 2007

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

house

Fuse box

meter

TEPGrid

PVPanels

Inverter

house

Fuse box

Net meter

TEPGrid

DC

AC

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0

kWh

Ge

ne

rate

d

1/1/2008 7/1/2008 1/1/2009Date

TEP / UA Solar Test Yard Research

Photovoltaic Modules at theTEP SOLAR TEST YARD

Alex CroninUA Physics

Cost Reliability Efficiency StorageTransmission

CIGS

Thin Si,

Poly Si

A Field Laboratory to study

23 Inverters

Rated Power2,640 Watts peak

Panel Temperature

Air Temp

0.12

0.10

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00

AC

Po

we

r /

Li

ght

Pow

er

5040302010Panel Temperature (C)

Sharp Panels & Aurora inverter(rated 14 %)

Unisolar Panels & Fronius Inverter(rated 7 %)

Occurance

Partial Shade turns a system off.

4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0

AC

Pow

er (

Wat

ts)

1817161514131211109876Time of day (hour)

Kyocera / Xantrex (#2) Sanyo / Sunnyboy (#5)

Sharp / Aurora (#1)

Unisolar / Fronius (#4)

Findings:

Partial shade is a big problem

Temperature de-rating is significant

Panels rated 1 kW can produce 1700 kWh / yr

Next: National perspectives, new research

PV module production in MW

PV cell efficiency improvements

Source: Department of Energy ERFC Workshop

PV Costs exhibit a “learning curve”

Prism Solar Technologies inc.

May reduce cost to$1 / Watt

Application in Solar Energy

• With a specially designed holographic optical element (HOE), a large portion of the expensive silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells in a solar panel can be replaced

• With this Holographic Planar Concentrator™ (HPC) technology, the solar modules produce more energy in all conditions when compared to a standard module with an equal area of silicon PV cells.

Application in Solar Energy

Other ways to Reduce Cost

• Materials: CIGS, CdTe, organics,

• Solar Grade Silicon

• Other Concentrators

• Solar thermal for electrical generation

2nd st. Parking GarageM

ount

ain

Ave

.

Solar FountainOutreach Tool:Sunlight work

Available from PhysicsLecture Demo Room

Larry HoffmanLaboratory Coordinatorhoffman@physics.arizona.eduOffice: PAS 120Phone: 520-621-6826

6th StH

ighl

and

Ave

Campus Rec Center with Solar