Abstract

Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science In the past two decades, there has been a surge in the research of new thermoelectric (TE) materials, driven party by the need for clean and sustainable power generation technology. Utilizing the Seebeck effect, the thermoelectric devices can be used as heat engines to convert heat into electricity. With no moving parts, the generators are considered highly reliable with low maintenance, which is essential for decentralized power source. With nearly 1.6 billion people living without basic electricity, the need for a small scale power generation is there. Through this work, we show that the solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) using cheap parabolic concentrators with high ZT modules can be a viable and a cost-effective alternative to solar photovoltaics for distributed power generation. The maximum conversion efficiency of 3 % has been achieved for a STEG under AM 1.5G conditions with commodity thermoelectric module. The generator was able to produce a peak output power of 11 W, with an inexpensive parabolic solar concentrator which can be found in developing countries being used as solar cookers. The output power is the highest achieved value for concentrated solar thermoelectrics and it is comparable to photovoltaic modules that are deployed in these rural communities. Based on a heat