Learn about the photovoltaic industry in 5 minutes!
Solar photovoltaic system, also known as photovoltaic, referred to as photovoltaic, refers to the use of photovoltaic semiconductor materials photovoltaic effect and the conversion of solar energy into direct current energy facilities. At the heart of the photovoltaic facility are solar panels. At present, the semiconductor materials used for power generation are mainly: monocrystalline silicon, polysilicon, amorphous silicon and cadmium telluride. Because countries are actively promoting the application of renewable energy in recent years, the development of the photovoltaic industry is very rapid.
As of 2010, solar photovoltaics are in use in hundreds of countries around the world. Although its power generation capacity still accounts for only a small proportion of total human electricity consumption, since 2004, the amount of photovoltaic power connected to the grid has grown at an average annual rate of 60%. By 2009, the total power generation capacity had reached 21GW. By the end of 2021, the world's cumulative installed PV capacity of 940GW (of which the Asia-Pacific region cumulative installed PV capacity of 547.7GW, accounting for 58% of the global total; The cumulative installed capacity in Europe is 205.4GW, accounting for 22% of the global total. The cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic in the Americas is 161.8GW, accounting for 17% of the global total. The cumulative installed capacity of photovoltaic in the Middle East and Africa is 25.1GW, accounting for 2.7%) ,which is the fastest growing energy source at present. It is estimated that the current capacity of photovoltaic systems that were not connected to the grid in 2009 is about 3 to 4GW。
The photovoltaic system can be large-scale installed on the surface to become a photovoltaic power station, and can also be placed on the roof or exterior wall of the building to form a photovoltaic building integration.
Since the advent of solar cells, continuous advances in the use of materials, technology, and the development and maturity of the manufacturing industry have driven the price of photovoltaic systems to become cheaper [4]. Not only that, many countries invest a lot of research and development funds to promote the conversion efficiency of photovoltaic, and give financial subsidies to manufacturing enterprises. More importantly, policies such as feed-in tariff subsidies and renewable energy ratio standards have greatly promoted the wide application of photovoltaic in various countries.
Note: the above data comes from Wikipedia.