2
Status and prospects of PV technology
In this chapter we give a brief overview on the current status of PV technology and discuss
its prospects.
Figure 2.1 shows the worldwide cumulative installed PV power, which is
exponentially increasing in time. The vertical axis represents the cumulative installed
power capacity expressed in GW p . The letter p denotes peak power, which is the
maximum power a PV module can deliver if it is illuminated with the standardized AM1.5
solar spectrum that we introduce in Section 5.5. By far the largest share is installed in
Europe. It is followed by the Asia Pacific Region, where most of the PV power is installed
in Japan. For China we observe a very strong increase in installed PV power since 2010.
By the end of 2012 the 100 GW p threshold was passed for the first time [17]. By the end
of 2013, already almost 140 GW p was installed around the globe [18]. Of all the installed
PV power at the end of 2013, almost one third was installed in 2013 alone!
Figure 2.1: The globally installed PV capacity (data from [18] and reproduced with kind permission from the European
Photovoltaic Industry Association EPIA).
In Figure 2.2 the annually installed capacity of PV modules in recent years is shown.
We see that the number of installed PV systems between 2000 and 2011 has grown almost
exponentially, with an average growth of 60%. The strongest growth was between 2007
and 2008 with a growth of 143%. In these years, by far the most PV systems were
installed in Europe. However, since 2011 the number of installed systems in Europe has
been going down rapidly, while it strongly increases in the other regions of the world.
While in 2011 74% of all PV systems were installed in Europe, in 2013, this was only
Status and prospects of PV technology
In this chapter we give a brief overview on the current status of PV technology and discuss
its prospects.
Figure 2.1 shows the worldwide cumulative installed PV power, which is
exponentially increasing in time. The vertical axis represents the cumulative installed
power capacity expressed in GW p . The letter p denotes peak power, which is the
maximum power a PV module can deliver if it is illuminated with the standardized AM1.5
solar spectrum that we introduce in Section 5.5. By far the largest share is installed in
Europe. It is followed by the Asia Pacific Region, where most of the PV power is installed
in Japan. For China we observe a very strong increase in installed PV power since 2010.
By the end of 2012 the 100 GW p threshold was passed for the first time [17]. By the end
of 2013, already almost 140 GW p was installed around the globe [18]. Of all the installed
PV power at the end of 2013, almost one third was installed in 2013 alone!
Figure 2.1: The globally installed PV capacity (data from [18] and reproduced with kind permission from the European
Photovoltaic Industry Association EPIA).
In Figure 2.2 the annually installed capacity of PV modules in recent years is shown.
We see that the number of installed PV systems between 2000 and 2011 has grown almost
exponentially, with an average growth of 60%. The strongest growth was between 2007
and 2008 with a growth of 143%. In these years, by far the most PV systems were
installed in Europe. However, since 2011 the number of installed systems in Europe has
been going down rapidly, while it strongly increases in the other regions of the world.
While in 2011 74% of all PV systems were installed in Europe, in 2013, this was only