IBM develops high-end photovoltaic system to exploit power of 2,000 suns

Global technology company IBM is developing a high-end photovoltaic system with the capacity of concentrating the power of 2,000 suns to generate sustainable energy.

The company’s research unit has collaborated with solar power technology supplier Airlight Energy, ETH Zurich and Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs NTB to undertake research for the development of High Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system.

It has also secured a credit facility of $2.4m from the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation towards the research and development work.

A report by the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association and Greenpeace International claimed that just 2% of the Sahara Desert’s land area is adequate enough to cater to global electricity needs.

Current solar technologies, however, are expensive and produce slowly, need rare earth minerals, besides are inefficient to make massive installations practical.

Meanwhile, the HCPVT prototype developed by IBM Research-led consortium uses a large parabolic dish, produced from a multitude of mirror facets, which is attached to a tracking system that assesses the best angle as per the position of the sun.

Following the alignment, the sun’s rays reflect off the mirror onto several microchannel-liquid cooled receivers, containing triple junction photovoltaic chips, each 1x1cm chip that can convert an average of 200W-250W over an eight hour day in a sunny region, providing a combined power of 25KW.

Also, the receiver mingles micro-structured layers that pipe liquid coolants within a few tens of micrometers off the chip absorbing the heat, and maintain it at the same temperature for a solar concentration of 2,000 times.

It also keeps them at safe temperatures up to a solar concentration of 5,000 times.

The multi-chip receiver based on high power processor coolers was designed through collaboration between IBM and the Egypt Nanotechnology Research Center.

Commenting on the technology, IBM Research advanced thermal packaging manager Bruno Michel has noted that the triple-junction photovoltaic cells on a microchannel cooled module can directly convert about 30% of collected solar radiation into electrical energy, while allowing the efficient recovery of waste heat above 50%.

The solar concentrating optics, being developed by ETH Zurich, is said to have a cost per aperture area below $250 per square meter, three times lower than comparable systems.

The company claims that HCPVT can both eliminate the overheating problems of solar chips and also repurpose the energy for thermal water desalination and cool air.

Airlight Energy CTO Andrea Pedretti said: "The design of the system is elegantly simple. The small high-tech components, in particular the microchannel coolers and the molds, can be manufactured in Switzerland with the remaining construction and assembly done in the region of the installation."

Currently, the research consortium is testing the HCPVT prototype at the IBM Research lab in Zurich, Switzerland.

Also, they plan to launch additional prototype systems in Biasca and Rüschlikon, Switzerland as part of this collaboration.