This facility, owned by the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC), has been created both as a power production facility and a proving ground for CPV technology.

The project demonstrates that CPV technology, with its higher efficiency and potential for cost reduction, will be an attractive alternative to other solar technologies in key high solar resource regions around the globe.

This first 200 kilowatt (kW) phase of SolFocus' deployment is ready to generate clean, reliable, carbon-free electricity for the local power grid for decades to come.

"Completing this first stage of the ISFOC project marks a major milestone for SolFocus, and for concentrator photovoltaics in general, on our way toward achieving grid parity for renewable energy," said Gary D. Conley, CEO of SolFocus.

"Working with the ISFOC team in this collaborative project of commercial deployment and scale, we are proud to deliver on the immense promise and potential that CPV holds in scaling to meet the world's energy needs."

SolFocus is continuing its second phase of the project, which will bring installed capacity of its CPV systems at ISFOC to 500 kW over the next month.

"We chose SolFocus' CPV arrays as part of the ISFOC project because we believed their non-imaging optical design would provide efficient and reliable systems," said Dr. Pedro Banda, Director General of ISFOC.

"We had confidence that they would be able to meet not just the design challenges, but the manufacturing challenges for volume deployment as well; we could not be more pleased with the results."

The company's innovative CPV technology employs a system of imaging and non-imaging reflective optics to concentrate sunlight 500 times onto small, highly efficient solar cells. SolFocus CPV systems use 1/1,000th of the active, expensive solar cell material compared to traditional photovoltaic panels.

In addition, the cells used in SolFocus CPV systems have over twice the conversion efficiency of traditional cells, accelerating the trajectory for solar energy to reach cost parity with fossil fuels. SolFocus CPV solar panels are made primarily of readily available and cost-effective materials such as aluminum and glass.

These CPV systems have the lowest carbon footprint in manufacturing, and are over 95-percent recyclable.

SolFocus integrates its CPV panels with its advanced tracking system that continuously aligns the solar array with direct sunlight throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky.

SolFocus tracking systems are also being used with traditional PV, as the tracker's high degree of accuracy allows PV systems to produce as much as 40 percent more energy over fixed PV installations.

SolFocus, with European headquarters in Madrid, Spain and United States headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., also has installed systems in Arizona, California, Hawaii and India. Last month, the company was honored at the prestigious 6th World Investment Conference in La Baule France with the Best Cleantech Investment Award for the company's investment in Spain and expansion into the European market.

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