In its latest report, The World Market for Concentrated PV (CPV) 2012, the U.K.-based research company finds that CPV costs will reduce annually by 16% on average until 2016. Additionally, technological advancements from companies including Solar Junction and Amonix will help boost the technologys attractiveness.
"With companies such as Solar Junction breaking cell efficiency records and Amonix capable of producing 34.2 percent efficient commercial modules, and focused on driving down system prices, acceptance of CPV as a utility-scale generation method is predicted to accelerate," says report co-author and IMS Research analyst Jemma Davies.
Overall, upfront systems costs are expected to remain higher for CPV than photovoltaics. However, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) is expected to "fall considerably" in target regions for CPV systems.
"It is important to focus less on up-front module prices and more on LCOE and what it means for the PV market. If a CPV system is capable of producing more electricity at a lower cost over its lifetime, surely it should be a viable option for a PV installation," continues report co-author and IMS Research analyst Sam Wilkinson.
Currently, just 90 MW of CPV are installed globally today. This figure is predicted to increase to nearly 1.2 GW by 2016, however.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.