The environmental impact of lightweight HCPV modules: efficient design and effective deployment

We present a life cycle analysis of a lightweight design of high concentration photovoltaic module. The materials and processes used in construction are considered to assess the total environmental impact of the module construction in terms of the cumulative energy demand and embodied greenhouse gas emissions, which were found to be 355.3 MJ and 27.9 kgCO_2eq respectively. We consider six potential deployment locations and the system energy payback times are calculated to be 0.22–0.33 years whilst the greenhouse gas payback times are 0.29–0.88 years. The emission intensities over the lifetimes of the systems are found to be 6.5–9.8 g CO_2eq/kWh, lower than those of other HCPV, PV and CSP technologies in similar locations. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.