Photovoltaic Power Generation
INSTITUTE OF ENERGY CONVERSION
451 WYOMING ROAD NEWARK, DE. 19716
| Photovoltaic devices (solar cells) generate electricity directly from sunlight. While advances in photovoltaic research continue to produce increasingly efficient cells at ever lower costs, economically feasible photovoltaic modules (assemblies of interconnected solar cells) are already available for public use. Providing approximately 50 watts of power each, these modules are commercially successful in certain applications. In the early 1990's, worldwide module sales reached about 400 million dollars, representing about a million modules per year. |
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The advantages of photovoltaic power generation for specific applications are clear. Photovoltaic modules provide the least expensive method of supplying electric power for many applications that would otherwise require substantial expenditure and maintenance. In fact, photovoltaic modules are usually the lowest cost method to supply electricity to remote, off-grid, low-power applications. They are especially attractive in developing countries for rural village power since where it is unlikely the central grid lines will be extended to remote or mountainous locations.For example, with a rechargeable battery, they are excellent sources of electricity for such items as navigational lights, outside lighting, emergency phones, and telecommunication transmitters. Arrays of photovoltaic modules can also supply power to houses that cannot conveniently obtain power from a central power grid for such needs as lighting, appliances, radio, TV and refrigeration. Photovoltaic modules are particularly well suited to supplying water pumping power for irrigation purposes. |
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In addition to meeting the above needs, photovoltaic modules can provide society with a method of electric power generation that is clean, non-polluting, and renewable. Because it uses sunlight directly, photovoltaic power generation does not deplete the fossil fuels supply already stored in the earth. It is, however, expensive; the cost of photovoltaic electricity today is between 30 and 40 cents per kilowatt hour, which makes it 3 to 4 times more expensive than conventional centralized electric utility power generation. Photovoltaic research and development in the United States is committed to finding ways to make stable photovoltaic modules safely and economically so that the costs of photovoltaic electricity is reduced to about 10 cents per kilowatt hour. |
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