COVER FEATURE
Solar Photovoltaic Technology For Grid- Connection – Moving Forward
By Sulaiman SHAARI ( Mr .) Vice President II , Malaysian Photovoltaic Industry Association ( MPIA )
COVER FEATURE
The Sun is a black body , fuelled by fusion process in its core and is the most important source of energy for life on Earth . It is made up of mostly hydrogen and helium and the Sun is the core of our solar system . The Sun emanates heat and light in a very broad spectrum and the full spectrum of solar radiation is shown in Figure 1 .
The amount of solar power intensity ( irradiance ) that arrives at the top of the Earth ’ s atmosphere is 1,365 Wm -2 ( https :// mynasadata . larc . nasa . gov / glossary / solar-constant-2 /). As it traverses the Earth ’ s atmosphere , it goes through reflection , absorption , transmission and dispersion , which attenuate the value to about 1,000 Wm -2 by the time it reaches the Earth ’ s surface . Various measurements have been made and the amount of solar energy intensity ( irradiation ) reaching the Earth ’ s surface for the world and Malaysia are shown in Figures 2 and 3 .
From the preceding figures , it is very clear that Malaysia has a significant amount of solar energy as a resource . In addition , deeper studies show that this availability entails a very promising industry using direct-active solar-based technologies .
PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY
Photovoltaics ( PV ) was discovered by a physicist , Alexandre Edmond Becquerel in 1839 ( see http :// www . sunlightelectric . com / pvhistory . php ). It is one
Figure 1 : Solar irradiance spectrum ( source : American Society for Testing and Materials ( ASTM ) Terrestrial Reference Spectra ).
of the most popular direct-active solar-based technologies among the renewable energy ( RE ) technologies . It is the phenomenon of converting light directly into electricity . This is achieved using PV cells , also popularly called solar cells . Popular materials used to make the PV cells are :
• An element from the periodic table , e . g . Group IV .
• Compounds such as combinations of Groups III-V , II-V , etc .
• Thin-film materials ( amorphous or noncrystalline ).
• Latest technology using organic-based materials .
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