Comparing Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells with Thin Film

Comparing Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells with Thin Film ①

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Photovoltaics are currently recognized as a top ranking technology among the new energies. Photovoltaics have the potential to eventually make a considerable contribution to the power generation capacity in the world, especially, in the industrialized countries. Good accomplishment has been obtained in the cost reduction of PV systems, for example in 1974, systems cost (100～150) $/W. In 1981, such systems cost less than (10～30) $/W, and now they cost less than 5 $/W. However, more R&D efforts are still necessary, to achieve large-scale cost-effective production of PV systems to make it competitive with diesel generation of electricity,although PV systems have proven to be competitive in rural and remote areas. In this paper, an overview on high efficiency solar cell technologies will be presented.