ISFOC offers specialized training and well-rounded formation in the following areas:

• Photovoltaic plants
• Energy efficiency

The Institute for Concentrated Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC) was created for the study, development, and promotion of Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) Energy. After more than 5 years since its creation, CPV energy is now in a prominent position within the photovoltaic sector, being competitive in terms of investment/energy production.

However, CPV has a series of peculiarities different from other photovoltaic technologies that need to be considered and analysed before the construction and/or investment in a CPV plant, such as the meteorological conditions of the installation site and the sizing and selection of equipment.

The following methodology has been successfully applied by ISFOC in almost all its projects. Therefore, ISFOC recommends dividing the work into the following four phases, which should be developed consecutively, and the first phase is crucial and absolutely necessary before venturing into the construction of a CPV plant, or any other technology, with certain guarantees of success:

1. Technical Feasibility Report of the Project

2. Tender, Engineering, and Construction

3. Power Determination and Acceptance Tests

4. Monitoring and Performance Evaluation

ISFOC has an IT department specialized in carrying out consulting projects, equipment maintenance, communication networks, hardware installation, and software development within the field of renewable energies.

The department's objective is to provide competitiveness, innovation, and the ability to evolve to its clients by covering their requirements. Extensive experience and service capability, a high level of technological competence, deep knowledge of the renewable energy sector, along with a solid platform of proprietary products, are the foundation upon which ISFOC builds its solutions.

ISFOC has assembled a portfolio of services and software products that cover all stages of information technology in the renewable energy sector, especially in concentrated photovoltaic energy (CPV), ranging from the monitoring of CPV plants to the maintenance and analysis of the data provided and prediction of the CPV plants' production.

Similarly, ISFOC has a unique hardware and software infrastructure in the world, with a large informational database that manages the monitoring and analysis of data provided by various CPV prototypes and plants located in different parts of the world (Spain, Egypt, Morocco, United Arab Emirates) with technologies from different manufacturers (Arima, Soitec, Isofoton, Solfocus, Sol3g, Emcore, Energy Innovations, Everphoton, Magpower, Semprius, Daido).

These solutions optimize the technology and production of CPV plants, facilitating their management, analysis, and maintenance. As a result, the installation and maintenance costs of CPV photovoltaic technology are reduced.

The Institute for Concentrated Photovoltaic Systems (ISFOC) has fully equipped and conditioned laboratories for the development and validation of equipment and designs related to solar photovoltaic energy in general, and concentrated photovoltaic energy in particular. These laboratories are capable of carrying out tests in accordance with standards IEC 61215, IEC 61646, IEC 61730, and especially those related to Concentrated Photovoltaic Technology, such as IEC 62108, IEC 62688, IEC 62817, IEC 62670, IEC 60068-2-21:2006, and ANSI/UL 1703.

In this regard, ISFOC has a Climatic Testing Laboratory within its facilities, whose purpose is to conduct, among other things, the pre-certification tests of the IEC 62108 standard, related to CPV modules and their assemblies. However, this laboratory has been adapted to carry out validations and accelerated aging tests on any type of materials, designs, equipment, and prototypes related to all industrial sectors: solar trackers and their components according to the IEC 62817 standard; video cameras, rearview mirrors, and other components of the automotive industry according to standards DIN EN 60068-2-14, DIN EN 60068-2-30, PV 1200: 2004-10; electrical transformers according to standard IEC 60076-11:2004, and in general, any element that needs to undergo tests consisting of temperature and humidity cycles, either following existing standardization guidelines or custom-designed according to specifications and requirements provided by the client.

The Climatic Testing Laboratory is equipped with two climatic chambers (one of them being a large volume model) 8000 ECP45 and 1500 ECP45 manufactured by ARALAB, with capacities of 8,000 and 1,500 litres respectively, suitable for tests at temperatures ranging from -50/+180°C and relative humidities between 10% and 98%. Additionally, there is a large volume chamber for exposing samples to UV radiation (FITOCLIMA 8000UV chamber by ARALAB with 4 UVA and UVB lamps capable of supplying 200W/m² of UV radiation with wavelengths between 280 and 400 nm and raising the internal temperature up to 65°C), as well as other equipment (high-speed ice ball launcher, rain structure, dynamometer and torque meter, multimeter, programmable power supplies, isolation measurement tester, analyser, wattmeter) necessary to conduct hail impact tests, water impermeability, mechanical load, traction and torque tests, current injection tests, dielectric strength and isolation tests.

The Climatic Testing Laboratory at ISFOC is located in the La Nava industrial park in Puertollano