The aim of the project is to develop and commercialise an improved roof-mounted hybrid solar concentrator PV/thermal (CPVT) product for the cost-effective delivery of solar heating, cooling and electricity that is suitable for installation on millions of domestic, commercial and industrial buildings.
The key innovation of the project is the use of spectral splitting of sunlight to improve the overall effectiveness of the CPVT product. In addition, novel cooling technology that takes advantage of the 150ºC thermal output of the system will be developed and integrated. The project will reduce the cost of solar energy by delivering several product streams with low distribution losses directly from building roofs to loads. Importantly, thermal and electrical energy will be delivered to the retail side of the energy meters, where energy prices are triple wholesale energy prices.
This project aims to achieve this ambitious goal by exploiting advances in the areas of materials, optics, and thermal management. The project will make extensive use of the capabilities of the new ASI solar laboratory at ANU, including outdoor test facilities, accelerated lifetime equipment and characterisation equipment.