Photovoltaics

Technology Map Contents

January 2008

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Technology Map Detailed Contents

Importance of the Technology

The Technology in Brief

• General Advantages and Disadvantages
• Cell Types
• Single-Crystalline (Monocrystalline) Silicon
• Polycrystalline Silicon
  • Wafers
  • Ribbons
  • Silicon Spheres
  • Polycrystalline-Silicon Thin Films
• Thin-Film Solar Cells
  • Amorphous Silicon
  • Cadmium Telluride
  • Copper Indium (Gallium) Diselenide
  • Gallium Arsenide, Indium Phosphide, and Other III-V Solar Cells
• Organic Solar Cells
• Multijunction Solar Cells
• Concentrating Systems
• Thermophotovoltaic Cells
• Solar-Cell Efficiency

Commercial Development Parameters

• Demand Factors
• General Constraints
• Synergistic Technologies
• Competing Technologies
• Required Resources
• Regulatory Factors

Areas to Monitor

• Grid-PV Cost and Sales Trends
• Solar-Grade Silicon
• Financing for PV in Rural-Developing Areas
• Module Prices and Demand
• The Green-Power Market
• Global Warming
• Advances in Silicon Use
• Solar-Cell Efficiency
• China: The Solar Dragon
• Renewable-Energy Technologies
• Thin-Film Solar Cells
• IC-Industry Synergies
• Conventional-Energy Supplies
• Nanotechnology
• Energy Storage
• Non-Vacuum-Deposition
• Organic Solar Cells

Implications of Commercialization

• Need for a Reliable Grid/Off-Grid Infrastructure
• New Opportunities for the Energy-Storage Market
• Emergence of Organic PV Technologies
• Development of a Smart-Grid Infrastructure

Opportunities

• PV Technologies
  • Crystalline-Silicon PV
  • Thin-Film PV
  • Organic and Nanotechnology-Based PV
  • Concentrating PV
• PV Applications
  • Grid-Connected Power
  • Off-Grid Power
  • Portable Power
  • Spacecraft

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Updates

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Abbreviations