Abstract
The ecological benefit and sustainability of a new energy technology
and its potential to reduce CO2 emissions depend strongly on the
amount of energy embodied in the materials and production processes.
The energy payback time is a measure for the amount of time that
a renewable energy system has to operate until the energy involved
in its complete life-cycle is regenerated. In this paper, the energy
payback time of the high-concentration photovoltaic system FLATCON1
using IIIâV semiconductor multi-junction solar cells has been evaluated.
Considering the energy demand for the system manufacturing, including
transportation, balance of system and system losses, the energy payback
time turns out to be as low as 8â10 months for a FLATCON1 concentrator
built in Germany and operated in Spain. The energy payback time rises
slightly to 12 to 16 months for a system installed in Germany. The
main energy demand in the production of such a high-concentration
photovoltaic system was found to be the zinced steel for the tracking
unit.
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