Soitec’s Concentrix™ technology
Soitec’s Concentrix Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) technology was created at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute. Every aspect of the technology has been optimized to offer a commercial solution with the most efficient solar energy generation currently available on the market.
Soitec’s CPV modules are built on Concentrix technology. They use Fresnel lenses to concentrate sunlight 500 times and focus it onto small, highly efficient multi-junction solar cells. This technology has helped us achieve world-leading AC system efficiency increases of 25% in actual operating conditions. This is almost twice as high as the efficiency increases achieved using conventional silicon systems. With our first demonstration systems dating back to 2005, we now have a solid track record with this technology.
Soitec manufactures IEC-certified modules on a fully-automated industrial production line—one of the world’s most modern CPV module manufacturing facilities. Our modules, based on a simple, yet robust optical concept, are designed for automated mass production at consistently high quality and module efficiency levels. The high degree of automation also allows us to build new production lines on a smart copy basis.
The basic research underpinning our Concentrix technology was developed over more than a decade at Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE, Europe’s largest solar research institute. Fraunhofer ISE has conducted research on CPV cells and systems since the mid-1980s. Since 2002, the Institute’s CPV research focus has shifted to the development of CPV manufacturing production technologies compatible with successful industrial commercialization. In 2005, the Institute founded a spin-off, Concentrix Solar, to commercialize the technology. Soitec acquired Concentrix Solar in 2009.