PV Sells or PV cells, 1998

Europe, and particularly the German government tells us to use them (so when there is huge demand they will not cost too much – so they say) and subsidises their use, so it must be right; and the architect looks more intelligent and green (oh oh); and if we cover our buildings with them they also offset the cost of the cladding, and/or roof; and the best of all, they are an economic form of cladding – after all pv cells are still probably cheaper than granite / m2 ! Now there’s a good reason to use glass, eh? Finally, we have a lot of wind but not too much sunshine (compared to the Sahara, we receive only 50% of the annual irradiation)- pity our buildings cannot support wind powered generators – or could they if microsized? Noisy, so, please, not near houses!

© Ian Ritchie 1998

addendum:
Enormous progress has been made in recent years on a number of photovoltaic materials and devices in terms of conversion efficiencies. Efficiencies in the range of 18%–24% have been achieved in traditional silicon-based devices fabricated from both multicrystalline and single-crystal materials. Ultrahigh-efficiency (>30%) photovoltaic (PV) cells have been fabricated from gallium arsenide (GaAs) and its ternary alloys like gallium indium phosphide (GaInP2). The high-efficiency GaAs-based solar cells are being produced on a commercial scale, particularly for space applications. Major advances in efficiency have also been made on various thin-film solar cells based on amorphous silicon (aSi:H), copper gallium indium diselenide (CIGS), and cadmium telluride materials.
source: Renewable Energy, Volume 15, Issues 1–4, September–December 1998, Pages 467-472
Recent developments in high efficiency photovoltaic cells
Author: Satyen K.Deb