Concentrator photovoltaic technologies

After more than three decades of exploring a dizzying variety of ways to concentrate sunlight onto solar cells with mirrors or lenses, Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) technologies are finally entering the market - a market for 100 kW systems and larger. Robert McConnell, Sarah Kurtz, and Martha Symko-Davies from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) report on recent market prospects and new record CPV cell efficiencies that portend the emergence of CPV systems in the next 2-5 years at installed system costs of $3 per watt.