Photovoltaic systems: Art end-of-millennium review

The production of electricity from photovoltaics continues to attract world wide interest, most recently as a power source for distributed energy gener ation. Today's photovoltaic systems are already being used effectively for smaller power needs in remote applications. For both of these applications, the issues of reliability, efficiency, safety, and low cost are the princi pal drivers of system technology. This review used these design issues to p rovide a system perspective on the current status of the technology, the ch ange it has already experienced and the necessity for improvements, especia lly in tomorrow's systems. The discussion of remaining issues focuses on th e reduction of area-related and collector costs, the accurate prediction of performance and lifetime, and the need for developing much better informat ion on recurring costs for maintenance and component replacement. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper was produced under the auspice s of the US government and it is therefore not subject to copyright in the US.