ABSTRACT
Photovoltaic (PV) conversion is the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity with no intervening heat engine. PV devices are solid state; therefore, they are rugged and simple in design and require very little maintenance. Perhaps the biggest advantage of solar PV devices is that they can be constructed as stand-alone systems to give outputs from microwatts to megawatts. For this reason, they have been used as the power sources for calculators, watches, water pumping, remote buildings, communications, satellites, and space vehicles, and even for megawatt-scale power plants. PV panels can be made to form components of a building skin, such as roof shingles and wall panels. With such a vast array of applications, the demand for photovoltaics is increasing every year. In 2019, global PV installations were approximately 109 GW, and a cumulative global total of more than 1 TW is expected by the end of 2022.
