what are solar cells

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What are Solar Cells?

Solar cells are devices which convert solar energy directly into electricity, either directlyvia the photovoltaic effect, or indirectly by first convertin the solar energy to heat or chemical energy.

The most common form of solar cells are based on the photovoltaic (PV) effect in whichlight falling on a two layer semi-conductor device produces a photovoltage or potentialdifference between the layers. This voltage is capable of driving a current through anexternal circuit and thereby producing useful work.

The Origins of Solar Cells

Although practical solar cells have only been available since the mid 1950s, scientificinvestigation of the photovoltaic effect started in 1839, when the French scientist, HenriBecquerel discovered that an electric current could be produced by shining a light onto

certain chemical solutions.

The effect was first observed in a solid material (in this case the metal selenium) in 1877.This material was used for many years for light meters, which only required very smallamounts of power. A deeper understanding of the scientific principles, provided byEinstein in 1905 and Schottky in 1930, was required before efficient solar cells could bemade. A silicon solar cell which converted 6% of sunlight falling onto it into electricitywas developed by Chapin, Pearson and Fuller in 1954, and this kind of cell was used inspecialised applications such as orbiting space satellites from 1958.

Today's commercially available silicon solar cells have efficiencies of about 18% of the

sunlight falling on to them into electricity, at a fraction of the price of thirty years ago.There is now a variety of methods for the practical production of silicon solar cells(amorphous, single crystal, polycrystalline), as well as solar cells made from other materials (copper indium diselenide, cadmium telluride, etc).

The Need for Solar Cells

The development of solar cell use in Australia has been stimulated by:

the need for low maintenance, long lasting sources of electricity suitable for places remote from both the main electricity grid and from people; eg satellites,

remote site water pumping, outback telecommunications stations and lighthouses; the need for cost effective power supplies for people remote from the main

electricity grid; eg Aboriginal settlements, outback sheep and cattle stations, andsome home sites in grid connected areas.

the need for non polluting and silent sources of electricity; eg tourist sites,caravans and campers

the need for a convenient and flexible source of small amounts of power; egcalculators, watches, light meters and cameras;


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the need for renewable and sustainable power, as a means of reducing globalwarming.

Together, these needs have produced a growing market for photovoltaics which hasstimulated innovation. As the market has grown, the cost of cells and systems has

declined, and new applications have been discovered.

How are Solar Cells made?

Silicon solar cells are made using either single crystal wafers, polycrystalline wafers or thin films.

Single crystal wafers are sliced, (approx. 1/3 to 1/2 of a millimetre thick), from a largesingle crystal ingot which has been grown at around 1400 C, which is a very expensive

process. The silicon must be of a very high purity and have a near perfect crystalstructure (see figure 1 (a)).

(a)

a) Single Crystal solar cells in panel

(b)

b) Polycrystalline solar panel


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(c)

c) a-Si solar panel

Figure 1 Different types of Silion solar cells

Polycrystalline wafers are made by a casting process in which molten silicon is pouredinto a mould and allowed to set. Then it is sliced into wafers (see figure 1 (b)).As

polycrystalline wafers are made by casting they are significantly cheaper to produce, butnot as efficient as monocrystalline cells. The lower efficiency is due to imperfections inthe crystal structure resulting from the casting process.

Almost half the silicon is lost as saw dust in the two processes mentioned above.

Amorphous silicon, one of the thin film technologies, is made by depositing silicon ontoa glass substrate from a reactive gas such as silane (SiH 4) (see figure 1 (c)). Amorphoussilicon is one of a number of thin film technologies. This type of solar cell can be appliedas a film to low cost substrates such as glass or plastic. Other thin film technologiesinclude thin multicrystalline silicon, copper indium diselenide/cadmium sulphide cells,cadmium telluride/cadmium sulphide cells and gallium arsenide cells. There are manyadvantages of thin film cells including easier deposition and assembly, the ability to bedeposited on inexpensive substrates or building materials, the ease of mass production,and the high suitability to large applications.

In solar cell production the silicon has dopant atoms introduced to create a p-type and ann-type region and thereby producing a p-n junction. This doping can be done by hightemperature diffusion, where the wafers are placed in a furnace with the dopantintroduced as a vapour. There are many other methods of doping silicon. In themanufacture of some thin film devices the introduction of dopants can occur during thedeposition of the films or layers.

A silicon atom has 4 relatively weakly bound (valence) electrons, which bond to adjacentatoms. Replacing a silicon atom with an atom that has either 3 or 5 valence electrons willtherefore produce either a space with no electron (a hole) or one spare electron that canmove more freely than the others, this is the basis of doping. P-type doping, the creationof excess holes, is achieved by the incorporation into the silicon of atoms with 3 valenceelectrons, most often boron and n-type doping, the creation of extra electrons is achieved

by incorporating an atom with 5 valence electrons, most often phosphorus (see figure 2).


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Figure 2 Silicon Crystal Lattice with Dopant Atoms.

Once a p-n junction is created, electrical contacts are made to the front and the back of the cell by evaporating or screen printing metal on to the wafer. The rear of the wafer can

be completely covered by metal, but the front only has a grid pattern or thin lines of metalotherwise the metal would block out the sun from the silicon and there would not be anyoutput from the incident photons of light.

How do Solar Cells Work ?

To understand the operation of a PV cell, we need to consider both the nature of thematerial and the nature of sunlight. Solar cells consist of two types of material, often p-type silicon and n-type silicon. Light of certain wavelengths is able to ionise the atoms inthe silicon and the internal field produced by the junction separates some of the positivecharges ("holes") from the negative charges (electrons) within the photovoltaic device.The holes are swept into the positive or p-layer and the electrons are swept into thenegative or n-layer. Although these opposite charges are attracted to each other, most of them can only recombine by passing through an external circuit outside the material

because of the internal potential energy barrier. Therefore if a circuit is made (see figure3) power can be produced from the cells under illumination, since the free electrons haveto pass through the load to recombine with the positive holes.


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Figure 3 The Photovoltaic Effect in a Solar Cell

The amount of power available from a PV device is determined by; the type and area of the material; the intensity of the sunlight; and the wavelength of the sunlight.

Single crystal silicon solar cells, for example cannot currently convert more than 25% of the solar energy into electricity, because the radiation in the infrared region of theelectromagnetic spectrum does not have enough energy to separate the positive andnegative charges in the material.

Polycrystalline silicon solar cells have an efficiency of less than 20% at this time andamorphous silicon cells, are presently about 10% efficient, due to higher internal energylosses than single crystal silicon.

A typical single crystal silicon PV cell of 100 cm 2 will produce about 1.5 watts of power at 0.5 volts DC and 3 amps under full summer sunlight (1000Wm -2). The power output of the cell is almost directly proportional to the intensity of the sunlight. (For example, if theintensity of the sunlight is halved the power will also be halved).


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Figure 4 Graph showing current and voltage output of a solar cell at different light intensities.

An important feature of PV cells is that the voltage of the cell does not depend on its size,and remains fairly constant with changing light intensity. However, the current in adevice is almost directly proportional to light intensity and size. When people want tocompare different sized cells, they record the current density, or amps per squarecentimetre of cell area.

The power output of a solar cell can be increased quite effectively by using a trackingmechanism to keep the PV device directly facing the sun, or by concentrating the sunlightusing lenses or mirrors. However, there are limits to this process, due to the complexity

of the mechanisms, and the need to cool the cells. The current output is relatively stableat thigher temperatures, but the voltage is reduced, leading to a drop in power as the celltemperature is increased. More information on PV concentrators can be found later in thisinformation file.

Other types of PV materials which show commercial potential include copper indiumdiselenide (CuInSe 2) and cadmium telluride (CdTe) and amorphous silicon as the basicmaterial.

PV PanelsAs single PV cells have a working voltage of about 0.5 V, they are usually connectedtogether in series (positive to negative) to provide larger voltages. Panels are made in awide range of sizes for different purposes. They generally fall into one of three basiccategories:


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Low voltage/low power panels are made by connecting between 3 and 12 smallsegments of amorphous silicon PV with a total area of a few square centimetresfor voltages between 1.5 and 6 V and outputs of a few milliwatts. Although eachof these panels is very small, the total production is large. They are used mainly inwatches, clocks and calculators, cameras and devices for sensing light and dark,

such as night lights. Small panels of 1 - 10 watts and 3 - 12 V, with areas from 100cm2 to 1000cm2are made by either cutting 100cm2 single or polycrystalline cells into pieces and

joining them in series , or by using amorphous silicon panels. The main uses arefor radios, toys, small pumps, electric fences and trickle charging of batteries.

Large panels, ranging from 10 to 60 watts, and generally either 6 or 12 volts, withareas of 1000cm2 to 5000cm2 are usually made by connecting from 10 to 36 full-sized cells in series. They are used either separately for small pumps and caravan

power (lights and refrigeration) or in arrays to provide power for houses,communications pumping and remote area power supplies (RAPS).

Arrays and SystemsIf an application requires more power than can be provided by a single panel, larger systems can be made by linking a number of panels together. However, an addedcomplexity arises in that the power is often required to be in greater quantities andvoltage, and at a time and level of uniformity than can be provided directly from the

panels. In these cases, PV systems are used, comprised of the following parts (see figure5):

(a) a PV panel array, ranging from two to many hundreds of panels;(b) a control panel, to regulate the power from the panels;(c) a power storage system, generally comprising of a number of specially designed batteries;(d) an inverter, for converting the DC to AC power (eg 240 V AC)(e) backup power supplies such as diesel startup generators (optional)- framework and housing for the system- trackers and sensors (optional);


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Figure 5 Elements of a PV System

Figure 6 Tracked PV Array containing 16 panels.

Arrays generally run the panels in series/parallel with each other, so that the outputvoltage is limited to between 12 and 50 volts, but with higher amperage (current). This is

both for safety and to minimise power losses. Panels currently cost about $3 - 6 per Watt.That is, a 50 Watt panel presently costs about $200. Eight years ago, this same

standard panel would have cost about $500 at a cost of about $8 - 10 per Watt.

Arrays of panels are being increasingly used in building construction where they servethe dual purpose of providing a wall or roof as well as providing electric power for the


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building. Eventually as the prices of solar cells fall, building integrated solar cells may become a major new source of electric power.

The daily energy output from PV panels will vary depending on the orientation, location,daily weather and season. On average, in summer, a panel will produce about five times

its rated power output in watt hours per day, and in winter about two times that amount.For example, in summer a 50 watt panel will produce an average of 250 watt-hours of energy, and in winter about 100 watt-hours. These figures are indicative only, and

professional assistance should be sought for more precise calculations.

Trackers are used to keep PV panels directly facing the sun, thereby increasing the outputfrom the panels. Trackers can nearly double the output of an array (see figure 7). Carefulanalysis is required to determine whether the increased cost and mechanical complexityof using a tracker is cost effective in particular circumstances. A variety of trackers,which will take about 10 panels, are manufactured in Australia.

Figure 7 Graph showing power output for tracked and non tracked array.The control panel serves to monitor the incoming power, and avoid overloads.

Energy storage is often necessary when power is required when the sun is not shining -either at night or in cloudy periods - or in quantities greater than can be supplied directly

from the array. Specially designed "deep-cycle" lead acid batteries are generally used.Unlike normal batteries, they can discharge about half of their stored energy severalthousand times before they deteriorate. Each battery is usually 2 V, and the total battery

bank usually has many batteries in series and parallel to give the required power rating.Battery banks need to be individually sized to suit the particular applications, dependingon total daily solar radiation, total load, peak load and the number of days storagerequired. As a rule of thumb, battery storage costs about $250 per kWh of energy storedfor domestic sized systems.


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Inverters transform low voltage DC power ( eg 12V, 24V, 32 or 48V from batteries) intohigh voltage AC (generally 230 V in Australia). Inverters are necessary if mains-voltageappliances are to be used. In assessing the cost of the total system, it may be moreeconomical to purchase an inverter and mass produced consumer appliances than to uselow voltage DC appliances which may be more expensive.

Some appliances, such as high efficiency light globes are not presently available for lowvoltages. In this case, the cost of more panels must be balanced against the cost of aninverter. As a rule of thumb, inverters cost about $1 - $2 per watt of output, depending onsize and features. For example a 1.2 kW sine wave inverter with energy managementfeatures costs approximately $2600. There is local research aimed at substantiallyreducing the cost of large inverters and several Australian companies manufactureinverters for the local and export market.

Backup or auxiliary power supplies are required when complete reliability of electricitysupply must be guaranteed, when it is uneconomical to provide battery storage for

infrequent extended cloudy periods, or when some appliances have large and intermittent power requirements that are uneconomical to meet from the PV system. For further information on batteries, inverters and other enabling technologies, see the RAPSinformation file.

Sometimes wind generators are used in conjunction with PV systems, if the combinationof sun and wind is viable. Small petrol or diesel generators are often used as the backup.These systems are relatively cheap to purchase (less than $1000 per kW) but expensive torun. Several Australian companies are developing total hybrid supply systems thatoptimise the use of each component.

Reliability of PVsAll PVs are now manufactured to exacting international standards that ensure a lifespanof at least 25 years.

PV panels are generally made by laminating the solar cells between specially toughenedhigh transparency glass and an impervious backsheet of plastic so that no moisture canenter the panel to cause corrosion. This sandwich construction is so durable that all manufacturers of PV panels now offer a 10 year performance warranty.

This guaranteed durability enhances the cost effectiveness of PVs particularly in

applications where maintenance is a prime consideration.
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Figure 8 Graph showing component costs of PV system and price reduction over time.

Figure 8 shows the relative proportion of cost of each element in a PV system, the cost of the cells makes up a very substantial proportion of the final cost, mainly due to the high

purity silicon required.

Research efforts, in Australia and Worldwide, to reduce these costs are being directed inseveral areas, these including:

High efficiency polycrystalline cells, where the polycrystalline material is cheaper than

single crystal silicon. In Australia both UNSW and ANU have research programs in thisarea.

Thin film devices, where the reduction in the bulk material and the elimination of wastage in slicing wafers reduces material cost. Murdoch University is researchingamorphous silicon solar cells.

UNSW has an area of thin film device research and ANU has recently announced a new process developed by them called epi-lift to make single crystal thin film solar cells.

PV Concentrators

Concentrator systems, use large mirrors or lenses to concentrate and focus the sunlightonto a string of cells, thereby increasing the illumination and power output. The savingcomes from the reduction in the number of cells required for a given power output byusing the concept that "more illumination = greater power output" for solar cells (seefigure 9). The maximum concentration achievable is limited in practice to about 50 suns.Such facilities could be attractive for large, central power stations. Two drawbacks of these systems are that they can only use direct sunlight and therefore must track the sun,
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and they also must have some system to cool the cells. Several companies world-wide arelooking into these systems including a group at ANU .

Figure 9 PV Concentrator System (Courtesy of ACRE Ltd)

Building Integrated PV

Building Integrated PV (BIPV) is the application of this technology into buildings byreplacing conventional building materials. For example, in a BIPV project spandrel glass(in arch spaces), skylights, or roofing materials might be replaced with architecturallyequivalent PV modules that serve the dual function of building skin and power generator (see figure 10). As the builders are saving the costs of conventional materials it becomes

more economical to buy and use photovoltaics. BIPV systems can either be tied to theavailable utility grid or they may be designed as stand-alone, off-grid systems.

One of the benefits of grid-connected BIPV systems, is that on-site production of power is typically greatest at or near the time of a building's peak loads. This provides energycost savings through peak shaving and demand-side-management (DSM) capabilities.

For optimum BIPV integration, it is desirable to involve the architects, engineers, builders, utility and code officials, and users from the very earliest stages of the project.Because photovoltaic collection areas can be extensive, they can have a significantimpact on building design.
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Figure 10. The integration of PV cells into a building at the Thoreau Center for Sustainable Development(Image courtesy of NREL's Photographic Information Exchange )

The PV Industry

The photovoltaic industry is growing rapidly as concern increases about global warmingand as a result of falling prices resulting from technological breakthroughs. Australia hastwo small manufacturing plants which together produce less than 10 MW of panels eachyear. The total international production in 1997 was 130 MW worth more than $500million. This is expected to double every three years as demand increases (see figure 11).The major manufacturers of solar panels are Solarex and USSC in the USA, Sanyo,Canon and Kyocera in Japan and BP Solar and Siemens Solar in Europe. There are manyother smaller manufacturers.
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Figure 11 Graph showing market growth over time.

Current Applications and Development

For most of the eighties and early nineties the major markets for solar panels were remotearea power supplies and consumer products (watches, toys and calculators). However inthe mid nineties a major effort was launched to develop building integrated solar panelsfor grid connected applications. Rooftop PV is now driving the development of the

market in Japan, Europe and the USA. Japan currently has a program that aims to build70,000 solar homes, installing 400MW of PV by 2000 and installing 4600MW by 2010.In Europe several countries are supporting the construction of solar homes, with theEuropean parliament proposing a 1,000MW scheme. In the USA, President Clintonannounced a Solar Roofs Program, that aims to install solar panels on one million roofs inAmerica by 2010.

In Australia and the USA, the emergence of green power schemes, which permitcustomers to choose renewable energy options, has added considerable impetus to thegrowth of the industry. Grid connected solar farms have been constructed in WA(Kalbarri )(see figure 12), Singleton NSW (Hunter Valley) and SA (Wilpena Pound ), at

many sites in the USA and last year Greece announced a project to build the worldslargest PV power station on Crete with a final capacity of 50MW by 2003.Demonstration sites have also been established by Australian electricity utilities includingCitiPower Energy Park - called Project Aurora, Energy Australia 's Homebush Park &

National Innovation Centre, and Great Southern Energy's Solar Farm.
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Figure 12 Kalbarri PV installation(Image courtesy of Nigel Wilmot)

Other Applications of Photovoltaics

Cathodic Protection SystemsCathodic protection is a method of protecting metal structures from corrosion. It isapplicable to bridges, pipelines, buildings, tanks, wells and railway lines. To achievecathodic protection a small negative voltage is applied to the metal structure and this

prevents it from oxidising or rusting. The positive terminal of the source is connected to asacrificial anode that is generally a piece of scrap metal, which corrodes instead of thestructure. Photovoltaic solar cells are often used in remote locations to provide thisvoltage.

Electric FencesElectric fences are widely used in agriculture to prevent stock or predators from enteringor leaving an enclosed field. These fences usually have one or two 'live' wires that aremaintained at about 500 volts DC. These give a painful, but harmless shock to any animalthat touches them. This is generally sufficient to prevent stock from pushing them over.These fences are also used in wildlife enclosures and secure areas. They require a highvoltage but very little current and they are often located in remote areas where the cost of electric power is high. These requirements can be met by a photovoltaic system involvingsolar cells, a power conditioner and a battery.


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Figure 13 In remote locations, photovoltaics can provide the energy requirements for electric fencing(Image courtesy of ACRE Ltd )

Remote Lighting SystemsLighting is often required at remote locations where the cost of power is too high toconsider using the grid. Such applications include security lighting, navigation aids (eg

buoys and beacons), illuminated road signs, railway crossing signs and village lighting.Solar cells are suited to such applications, although a storage battery is always required insuch systems. They usually consist of a PV panel plus a storage battery, power conditioner and a low voltage, high efficiency DC fluorescent lamp. These systems arevery popular in remote areas, especially in developing countries and this is one of themajor applications of solar cells.
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Figure 14 Remote lighting systems(Image courtesy of ACRE Ltd )

Telecommunications and Remote Monitoring SystemsGood communications are essential for improving the quality of life in remote areas.However the cost of electric power to drive these systems and the high cost of

maintaining conventional systems has limited their use. Photovoltaics has provided acost-effective solution to this problem through the development of remote areatelecommunications repeater stations. These typically consist of a receiver, a transmitter and a PV based power supply system. Thousands of these systems have been installedaround the world and they have an excellent reputation for reliability and relatively lowcosts for operation and maintenance.

Similar principles apply to solar powered radios and television sets, emergencytelephones and monitoring systems. Remote monitoring systems may be used for collecting weather data or other environmental information and for transmitting itautomatically via radio to the home base.

Solar Powered Water PumpingThere are more than 10,000 solar powered water pumps in use in the world today. Theyare widely used on farms and outback stations in Australia to supply water to livestock.In developing countries they are used extensively to pump water from wells and rivers tovillages for domestic consumption and irrigation of crops. A typical PV-powered

pumping system consists of a PV array that powers an electric motor, which drives a pump. The water is often pumped from the ground or stream into a storage tank that
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provides a gravity feed. No energy storage is needed for these systems. PV powered pumping systems are widely available from agricultural equipment suppliers and they area cost-effective alternative to agricultural wind turbines for remote area water supply.

Figure 15. Solar powered water pump(Image courtesy of ACRE )

Rural ElectrificationStorage batteries are widely used in remote areas to provide low voltage electrical power for lighting and communications as well as for vehicles. A PV powered battery chargingsystem usually consists of a small PV array plus a charge controller. These systems arewidely used in rural electrification projects in developing countries.

Water Treatment SystemsIn remote areas electric power is often used to disinfect or purify drinking water.Photovoltaic cells are used to power a strong ultraviolet light that can be used to kill

bacteria in drinking water. This can be combined with a solar powered water pumping

system.

Desalination of brackish water can be achieved via PV powered reverse osmosis systems.These are used in arid parts of Australia to produce fresh water from artesian supplies.

Miscellaneous Applications of Solar Cells
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The market for photovoltaic cells is presently growing at about 30% per year, and thecost of panels is declining continuously in real terms (figure 9), due to both newtechnologies and mass production. There are confident predictions from leading PVmanufacturers in USA, Japan and Europe that the price of PV power will be competitivewith mains electricity within 10 years.

These predictions generally refer to power at the panel, and do not take into account thevarious other system costs mentioned above. The price of the balance of systemscomponents are not declining as rapidly as the cost of panels, so the total system costswill decline more slowly. This factor is encouraging research into appliances that can beused directly from the panels, and do not need to rely on inverters and battery storage.Integrating panels into buildings also reduces the balance of systems costs.

PV Research in Australia

PV Research in Australia

Photovoltaics is an active research area in Australia and there are several groups involvedwith the work. They include:Photovoltaics Special Research Centre, University of NSW Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems, Australian National University Murdoch University - Amorphous Silicon Solar Cell Research

Further Information

Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Renewable Energy (ACRE)Murdoch University Energy Research Institute (MUERI)PV Research Centre, UNSW

Western Power (Kalbarri PV installation)CitiPower Energy Park Energy Australia Great Southern EnergyAustralia and New Zealand Solar Energy Society (ANZES)CRESTInternational Solar Energy Society (ISES)

National Renewable Energy Laboratory (USA)

PublicationsBooks

Green, Martin. A., Solar Cells: Operating Principles, Technology and SystemApplications, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.; Sydney: Prentice Hall, 1992Komp, Richard, J. Practical Photovoltaics, Electricity From Solar Cells. Kampmann &Company, Inc. New York, 1984Koltun, M.M. Solar Cells, Their Optics and Metrology. Allerton Press Inc. 1988.Markvart, Tomas (ed), Solar Electricity, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester, 1995.Zweibel, Kenneth., Harnessing Solar Power: The Photovoltaics Challenge, Plenum Press,

New York, 1990
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Magazines and JournalsSolar Progress - Published by ANZSES ,ReNew Technology for a Sustainable FuturePublished by Australian Alternative Technology Association (ATA)247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Vic. 3000. Australia

Photovoltaic Insider s Report

References

Photovoltaic Insider s Report - Vol. X No. 2 February 1991Vol. XIV No. 4 April 1995Vol XVII No. 2 February 1998

"The Solar Goldmine", Greenpeace Australia, 1997.

Acknowledgments

This information was developed by Anna Carr, Serena Fletcher, Katrina O'Mara andMark Rayner with assistance from John Todd (University of Tasmania) and PhilipJennings of Murdoch University (June 1999).
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