Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
A Mauritanian villager inspects a solar panel near her local well in the Sahara
desert. The panel uses solar energy to generate electricity to pump up water
from the well.
Solar photo-voltaic (PV)
PV technology turns sunlight directly into electricity. The light energy of
the sun (or “photon”) displaces electrons embedded in solar cells - slices
of silicon - and sends the electrons across an electrical junction, thus
creating a voltage.
The prospect of being able to turn the universe's predominant natural
source of energy - the sun - directly into electricity without the fuss of
any intermediate steps is so enticing that the growth rate in solar PV
production has been truly extraordinary. According to the International
Energy Agency's
Renewable Energy Statistics
report of 2008, investment in
PV within OECD countries rose from 19 GWh in 1990 to 2626 GWh in
2006, an average yearly increase of 36 percent. Much of this was driven by
a very high subsidy or feed-in tariff in just one country, Germany, where
PV capacity increased from just 1 GWh in 1990 to 2200 GWh in 2006, an
average annual growth rate of 62 percent.
