A New Model to Determine Installed System Cost and LCOE for ARPA-E's MOSAIC Micro-Concentrator PV Program

摘要

The U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) started a program called Microscale Optimized Solar-cell Arrays with Integrated Concentration (MOSAIC). The goal of MOSAIC is to leverage attributes of conventional flat-plate photovoltaic (PV) system configuration and concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) module technology to produce a new class of modules for residential, commercial, and utility-scale markets. This paper describes a collaborative effort between ARPA-E and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to develop a bottom-up system cost model for MOSAIC research teams. The model is a valuable design tool within the program, helping to validate the various technical approaches and compare future deployed system competitiveness versus incumbent technologies in the PV industry.