Second Law of Thermodynamics: Status and Challenges (AIP Conference Proceedings, 1411)

In general, these proceedings will appeal to people interested or active in the area of CPV, PV, and other fields of renewable energies, such as students of physics, university professors, scientists, technologists, people in the world of finance, and others. The proceedings book covers the technical aspects of concentrating photovoltaics (CPV).  CPV technology uses optics to concentrate the sunlight onto a solar cell made of semiconductor materials.  Silicon solar cells are used at low concentration levels of between 2 and 100.  At high concentration, typically >300, the solar cell area is greatly reduced and more expensive technologies like III-V multi-junction solar cells can be used to increase conversion efficiencies.  The CPV technology is competitive in arid regions of the world with high solar intensities and will allow to further reduce the cost of solar electricity in the future. The state-of-the-art for the technology, but also critical issues for this technology are summarized in this proceedings book.  Thus, this book is the most comprehensive summary for the CPV technology written by the most prominent scientists and engineers active in the field.