Soitec has shipped its Concentrix concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems to Focusic New Energy, a Chinese developer of renewable-energy power plants.
It is the French firm's first order for solar-energy systems from the People’s Republic of China.
“The renewable-energy market in China presents exciting prospects for our CPV technology,” said Hansjörg Lerchenmüller, senior v-p customer group for Soitec’s solar energy business Unit.
Soitec’s equipment will be used to build a 3-megawatt (MW) CPV solar power plant in Hami, a city on the edge of the Taklamakan desert in the Xinjiang province.
“We are impressed by the ultra-high efficiency of Concentrix technology and by the experience that Soitec has amassed through extensive research and development work, dating back to the technology’s origin at Fraunhofer ISE,” said Ma Wenxing, managing director at Focusic.
Soitec’s CPV technology is ideally suited for installations in ecologically sensitive desert areas because the land does not need to be graded and the indigenous plant life is not negatively impacted by shading. In addition, Concentrix systems do not require water for cooling.
China contains an estimated 500,000 square miles of area with high direct normal irradiance ratings as well as an enormous and growing demand for energy.
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