A novel solar concentrator system for combined heat and power application in residential sector

The research on photovoltaic conversion is continuously overtaking technological challenges and modern PV cells can nowadays be efficiently combined with solar concentrators. In this paper a new photovoltaic solar concentrator model based on non-imaging optics and embedding high efficiency multi-junctions cells is presented. The concentrator has been optimized to maximize the electricity production but it is thought to work in cogeneration to allow also for thermal energy by recovering the residual heat, since an active cooling system for the cells is necessary. The efficiency enhancement is obtained thanks to the high matching between the collected solar irradiance and the receiver electrical features. The aim of the paper is the definition of the number of residential utilities connected to the system in order to minimize the exchange of energy with the network and also the use of auxiliary boiler. Also the optimal size of electric and thermal storage to be integrated to the concentrator, has been determined as function of the number of utilities. To achieve these goals a parametric analysis has been carried out by the use of an in-house-developed calculation code considering a whole year of operation in order to estimate the energy fluxes and the economic performance. Furthermore, the maximum capital cost of the system has been estimated in order to achieve a return on the investment in ten or twenty years. According to the Authors’ knowledge, the novelty of this study regards the implementation of this kind of photovoltaic solar concentrator – for combined heat and power production – in a residential application.