Fourth-generation concentrator system: from the lab to the factory to the field

In the authors´ May 1993 IEEE PVSC paper, they described improvements in manufacturing technology which their team was developing to mass-produce their new fourth-generation concentrator module. In the past 18 months, they have completed the development of this new module. They are currently producing over 600 modules of the new type, equivalent to more than 250 kW of rated power output. Most of these modules are presently being deployed in two electric utility-scale power plants owned by the two largest utility companies in Texas, USA: (i) a 100 kW system near Ft. Davis, Texas, at the Solar Park being developed by Central and South West; and (ii) a 100 kW system near Dallas, Texas, at the Energy Park being developed by TU Electric. Thus, the module technology they described at the last PVSC has progressed from the laboratory to the factory floor to the field