Solar Energy

learning curve shows, in a graphical way, how the cost price develops with increasing experience, where the experience is expressed by the cumulatively installed PV capacity.

European Photovoltaic Industry Association EPIA)

Figure 1.6: The energy mix used for electricity production in (a) the Netherlands [15] and (b) Brazil [16] (Data from Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS; Statistics Netherlands) and used according to Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/nl).

As we will see in this book, typical efficiencies of the most commercial solar modules are in the range of 15-20%.

As mentioned above, energy is never produced but always converted from one form to another.

These two components, renewable energy sources and energy efficiency, are the key components of sustainable energy.