Electrical characterization of concentrator PV cells: A comparison between outdoor testing under direct solar radiation and indoor measurements on a high intensity solar simulator

The European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) laboratory and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Cyprus (UCY) have shared their exploratory research on indoor/outdoor characterization of concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) cells and modules. The activity is performed within the 5-year APOLLON project, a co-financed activity of the VII research framework program of the European Commission. In this work we present results on the indoor characterization of c-Si and III–V group CPV cells by means of the new high intensity pulsed solar simulator developed at ESTI and the outdoor measurement under concentrated irradiance that has been carried out at UCY to corroborate the indoor results.