From pv magazine Spain
Spain-based engineering firm Ghenova Ingeniería and Seville-based BlueSolar, a joint venture with Capsun, a spinoff of the defunct Abengoa Solar, have patented a PV and concentrated solar power (CSP) system after years of research with Spanish technology centers, including the National Council of Technology (CSIC), the Solar Platform of Almería, Tekniker, the University of Seville, the National Hydrogen Center, and Germany's Fraunhofer Institute.
The Spanish Institute of Technology and Communications (CIDT) co-financed the technology throughout its development stages, and the Andalusian Technology Corporation (CTA) supported the recently completed pilot project in Puertollano.
BlueSolar has developed the first large-scale plant concept that integrates photovoltaic and solar thermal energy in a single facility using hybrid panels. These panels generate uninterrupted electricity and also function as concentrating mirrors, using a patented selective optical light filter embedded in the panel glass. The panels continue to produce electricity while reflecting heat for thermal storage or direct steam generation.
The core of the technology is a specialized glass that replaces standard glass over the photovoltaic panel and is manufactured by BlueSolar. The company said it can adapt this glass to any manufacturer’s monocrystalline silicon panels, though it achieves higher efficiency with tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology than with passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) designs.
“BlueSolar has the potential to become the world's first solar technology that enables uninterrupted power supply at market prices. It efficiently harnesses 50% of the energy that a panel doesn't use, allowing for 60% more energy efficiency with a photovoltaic plant and 70% more than a solar thermal plant,” José Caparrós, CEO of Blue Solar, told pv magazine. “This is because, in the range of light that the filter allows to pass through to the photovoltaic panel, silicon is twice as efficient as a solar thermal plant, while in the percentage of reflected light, a solar thermal plant is much more efficient than a photovoltaic panel. With this interplay of light, the efficiency of a solar photovoltaic system increases by 60%.”
The plant concept integrates thermal storage using molten salts or other storage media.
“But given the system's intrinsic efficiency, it is possible to minimize all the technological barriers of solar thermal plants, with smaller towers, lower temperatures, less complex trackers, and smaller and simpler receivers, allowing for scalability, modularity, reliability, and reduced operation and maintenance costs, which are the major technical challenges of solar thermal plants,” said Caparrós. “And above all, improving the levelized cost of electricity by 50%, with the potential to reduce prices infinitely greater than that of these solar thermal plants.”
BlueSolar has designed its new plant concept to hybridize with existing and planned PV plants, aiming to optimize current grid infrastructure.
“The integration of photovoltaic plants with thermal storage plants using BlueSolar technology gives rise to a plant concept that allows base load operations for over 7,000 hours per year. The added benefit of having a steam turbine makes hybridization with gas possible, which would allow for complete grid isolation, with 80% of the supply produced using green energy and without price fluctuations,” said a BlueSolar executive. “The compatibility of the technology with green hydrogen generation, which requires an uninterrupted renewable electricity supply, is being studied, as well as for coupling to data centers or desalination plants, both thermal and reverse osmosis, which have high thermal and electrical consumption, respectively.”
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