物理专业英语_论文_中英文.docVIP

Photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panelscomposed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material. Materials presently used for photovoltaics include monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium galliu selenide/sulfide.Due to the growing demand for renewable energy sources, the manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has advanced considerably in recent years.Solar photovoltaics is growing rapidly, albeit from a small base, to a total global capacity of 67,400 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2011, representing 0.5% of worldwide electricity demand.The total power output of the world’s PV capacity run over a calendar year is equal to some 80 billion kWh of electricity. This is sufficient to cover the annual power supply needs of over 20 million households in the world.More than 100 countries use solar PV. Installations may be ground-mounted (and sometimes integrated with farming and grazing)or built into the roof or walls of a building (building-integrated photovoltaics). Driven by advances in technology and increases in manufacturing scale and sophistication, the cost of photovoltaics has declined steadily since the first solar cells were manufactured and the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) from PV is competitive with conventional electricity sources in an expanding list of geographic regions. Net metering and financial incentives, such as preferential feed-in tariffs for solar-generated electricity, have supported solar PV installations in many countries. With current technology, photovoltaics recoup the energy needed to manufacture them in 1 to 4 years. Solar cells Photovoltaics are best known as a method for generating electric po