ABSTRACT
Photovoltaic cells and systems have a wide variety of applications, including (Rannels, 1991; Sandia National Laboratories, 1991; Preiser, 2003):
space (e.g. satellites and space stations)
navigational aids and warning devices (e.g. coded light beacons)
telecommunications (e.g. microwave repeater stations, remote area radio telephones, emergency call boxes)
railway crossing, road and emergency signage
cathodic protection (e.g. corrosion prevention for pipe lines)
consumer products requiring less than 10 mW (e.g. calculators and watches)
battery charging (e.g. boats, campervans, lights, power systems of all types and even cars)
educational (e.g. TV in developing countries)
refrigeration (e.g. for medicines and vaccines in remote areas)
water pumping (e.g. for irrigation and domestic water supplies)
water purification, an increasingly important application in both developing and industrialised countries
solar powered vehicles (e.g. golf carts, solar cars, boats on reservoirs where petroleum products and noisy motors are restricted)
lighting (e.g. billboards, street and garden lights, security lighting, emergency warning lights)
remote monitoring (e.g. weather, pollution, highway conditions, water quality, river heights and flow rates)
remote meter reading
gas flow metering
direct drive applications (e.g. ventilation fans, toys)
electric fences (e.g. to keep dingos and kangaroos out or stock in)
remote gates
remote community power supplies
remote homestead and household power supplies (usually in a hybrid system)
power for residential or commercial use where there is grid connection
power for sectionalising switches along remote sections of electricity grids
‘distributed photovoltaics’—numerous appropriately sized arrays feeding into distribution power grids at dispersed sites
central power plants.
