Integrated solar tracker positioning unit in distributed grid-feeding inverters for CPV power plants

The total amount of photovoltaic (PV) energy production in the global energy mix has been increasing strongly all over the world in the last decade. This phenomenon has been mainly driven by the promotion of renewable energies, as well as by the well known feed-in tariffs. Although the major part of PV installations consists in roof mounted panels in private, collective or commercial buildings, the amount of large scale PV power plants, from 200 kW to 10 MW or more is increasing drastically. Such large scale PV power plants already represent nearly 20% of the total installed PV capacity (Fig. 1, left). Indeed, by reducing of the overall system costs, they are becoming serious alternatives to fossil fuel or nuclear power plants for utilities.