ABSTRACT
Photovoltaic (PV) conversion is the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity with no intervening heat engine. PV devices are solid state; therefore, they are rugged and simple in design and require very little maintenance. Perhaps the biggest advantage of solar PV devices is that they can be constructed as stand-alone systems to give outputs from microwatts to megawatts. That is why they have been used as the power sources for calculators, watches, water pumping, remote buildings, communications, satellites and space vehicles, and even megawatt-scale power plants. PV panels can be made to form components of building skin, such as roof shingles and wall panels. With such a vast array of applications, the demand for PVs is increasing every year. With net metering and governmental incentives, such as feed-in laws and other policies, grid-connected applications such as building-integrated PV have become cost-effective even where grid electricity is cheaper. As a result, the worldwide growth in PV production has averaged over 43% per year from 2000 to 2012 and 61% from 2007 to 2012 (see Figure 20.1). The cumulative installed global PV capacity grew to over 100 GW by the end of 2012.
