ABSTRACT
PV systems can be used for a wide variety of applications, from small stand-alone systems to large utility grid-tied installations of a few megaWatts. Due to its modular and small-scale nature, PV is ideal for decentralized applications. At the start of the twenty-rst century, over one-quarter of the world’s population did not have access to electricity, and this is where PV can have its greatest impact. PV power is already beginning to help ll this gap in remote regions, with literally millions of small residential PV systems installed on homes around the world, most commonly as small stand-alone PV systems, but also increasingly as larger on-grid systems in some industrialized regions (notably Japan, Germany, and California). Ironically, the wealthy, who want to demonstrate that they are “green,” or often impoverished remote power users, who need electricity and have limited options, form the majority of PV users.
