ECONOMIC OPTIMIZATION OF STATIONARY NON-EVACUATED CPC SOLAR COLLECTORS.

Stationary, non-evacuated CPC (Compound Parabolic Concentrator) Solar collectors are a promising alternative to corresponding flat plate collectors in that they offer superior yearly energy delivery at comparable cost for low-temperature thermal applications. For realistic cost scenarios, we determine optimal concentrator configurations and concentration ratios, and calculate their sensivity to variations in relative component costs, climate, orientation and collector operating temperature. For CPC's that are to have the flexibility to either east-west or north-south orientation, optimized collectors are shown to have low concentrations of around 1. 2, achieved by truncation from acceptance half angles of about 45 degree .