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ABU DHABI / WAM
Researchers from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology developed a novel device that can track and concentrate sunlight onto high-efficient solar cells, without mechanically moving to follow the sun’s path across the sky. This proof-of-concept research is the first step towards the development of a self-tracking concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system.
“Traditional CPV systems rotate solar panels to face the sun using a mechanical tracker that is both expensive and too big to put on rooftops,†explained Masdar Institute Research Engineer Harry Apostoleris, whose Master’s thesis focused on this work.
“We are trying to accomplish this tracking through a flat system that does not move, by changing only the optical properties of the collector, not its physical orientation,†he added.
Apostoleris is lead author of a paper published on this research earlier this month in the journal Nature Energy with his supervisor, Dr Matteo Chiesa, Associate Professor of Mechanical and Materials Science Engineering, Masdar Institute, and Dr. Marco Stefancich, Researcher at
the National Research Center in Parma, Italy.