Abdullahi Abubakar Mas’ud 5 , Jorge Alfredo Ardila-Rey 6 and Abu Bakar Munir 7
Abstract – Integrating a concentrator into the building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) design has resulted in a new technology known as the building integrated concentrating photovoltaic (BICPV). The rotationally asymmetrical compound parabolic concentrator (RACPC) is an example of a concentrator design that has been explored for use in BICPV. This paper evaluates the life cycle assessment (LCA) for the RACPC-PV module, which has never been explored before. The LCA of the RACPC-PV module has found a cost reduction of 29.09% and a reduction of 11.76% of embodied energy material manufacture when compared to a conventional solar photovoltaic (PV) module. The energy payback time for an RACPC-PV and a conventional PV was calculated to be 8.01 and 6.63 years, respectively. Moreover, the energy return on investment ratio was calculated to be 3.12 for a conventional PV and 3.77 for an RACPC-PV.
Keyword: solar photovoltaic; solar concentrator; life cycle analysis; rotationally asymmetrical compound parabolic concentrator
2School of Engineering, Robert Gordon University, Garthdee Road, Aberdeen AB10 7GJ, Scotland, UK
3Renewable Energy Research Laboratory, Electrical Engineering Section, British Malaysian Institute, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Sungai Pusu, Gombak 53100, Selangor, Malaysia; hawa012@gmail.com
4UTM Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 54100, Malaysia
5Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Jubail Industrial College, P.O. Box 10099, Jubail 31961, Saudi Arabia; masud_a@jic.edu.sa
6Department of Electrical Engineering, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Santiago de Chile 8940000, Chile; jorge.ardila@usm.cl
7Eversheds Harry Elias LLP, SGX Centre 2, #17-01, 4 Shenton Way, Singapore 068807, Singapore; munirapac@eversheds-harryelias.co
*Correspondence: f.b.muhammad-sukki@rgu.ac.uk (F.M.-S.); nurulaini.kl@utm.my (N.A.B.)
