ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the development of renewable energy: solar power and hydrogen. It focuses on the historical development of sector during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, with an overview of the current actors and policy and markets. Several different materials can be used to build photovoltaic equipment for electricity production. The production chain for silicon-based solar power equipment is complex and requires considerable inputs of energy. In the Soviet Union, the first research on the creation of photovoltaic transformers was carried out at the Physical-Technical Institute of the Academy of Sciences in Leningrad, which was led by the famous academician Abram Ioffe. The global deficit of polycrystalline silicon has spurred Russian actors to carry out research into the production of solar power modules based on the highly efficient Gallium-Arsenide (GaAs) semiconductor, which has an efficiency level higher than 30 per cent. Due to the heavy international demand for their solar power products, Russian producers are trying to expand their production.
