Abstract
The goal is lower cost solar electricity. Herein, two evolutional steps are described toward achieving this goal. The first step is to follow the sun with a solar tracker. Herein, a carousel tracker is described for mounting on commercial building flat rooftops in order to produce more kWh per kW relative to fixed PV modules. The second evolutionary improvement is to produce lower cost 3-sun CPV modules where two thirds of the expensive single crystal silicon material is replaced by less expensive mirror material. This paper describes the performance and durability of two prototype installations demonstrating these evolutionary innovations. In the first case, the installation and operation of 2 carousels equipped with traditional flat plate modules is described. In the second case, the operation of a carousel equipped with new 3-sun CPV modules is described. Both systems have been operating as expected for several months through the winter of 2007.
