Page 8 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

Preface

Our book, A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems: With Special Focus on Photo­
voltaic Systems is a companion volume to the recent book: Wind Energy Engineering:
A Handbook for Onshore and Offshore Wind Turbines (Elsevier, 2017). It was felt that the solar
energy industry like the wind turbine industry was developing so rapidly that it was now
necessary to compile a collection of solar energy-related topics into one volume.
The use of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind for electricity genera-
tion is becoming commonplace in our society as we move away from fossil fuels to more
sustainable forms of energy, free from carbon dioxide pollution. The move cannot come
quickly enough as each month we hear that the previous month was the hottest month
since records began and that CO 2 levels are increasing every year and have now passed the
410 ppm level.
Our book gives an all round view of solar energy with a special focus on technical is-
sues surrounding photovoltaic cells. The 25 chapters are divided into the following six
sections: Introduction; Solar Energy Resource and Worldwide Development; Thermal
Solar Energy Technology; Photovoltaic Solar Energy—Generation of Electricity; Environ-
mental Impacts of Solar Energy; Economics, Financial Modeling, and Investment in PVs,
Growth Trends, and the Future of Solar Energy. In more detail, the book includes chapters
on the following areas:
• Scientific aspects (basic theory of photovoltaic solar energy, global potential for
producing electricity from the sun’s energy);
• Wind energy in China, Europe, Africa, and the USA, to give a flavor of developments
in very different countries but all with the same aim of reducing global warming while
providing affordable, abundant, and sustainable energy;
• Thermal solar power in solar heaters, concentrated solar systems.
• Photovoltaics in all its different forms—crystalline silicon cells, cadmium telluride
cells, perovskite cells, and organic cells;
• Large scale PV Integrated technologies (buildings);
• Integration into national grids;
• Small scale PV systems;
• Storing energy from PVs;
• Environmental issues and comparisons;
• Materials’ abundance, purification, and energy cost for Si, CdTe, and CIGS
photovoltaics;
• Life Cycle Analysis and Energy Return on Investment;

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