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Appendix C
Comparison of Different Power-Generation Methods 275

Germany has become the leading PV market worldwide since revising
its feed-in tariff system as part of the Renewable Energy Sources Act.
Installed PV capacity has risen from 100 MW in 2000 to approximately
4,150 MW at the end of 2007. Spain has become the third-largest PV
market after adopting a similar feed-in tariff structure in 2004, while
France, Italy, South Korea, and the United States have seen rapid growth
recently due to various incentive programs and local market conditions.
World solar photovoltaic (PV) market installations reached a record high
of 2.8 gigawatts peak (GWp) in 2007.
The three leading countries (Germany, Japan, and the U.S.) represent
nearly 89 percent of the total worldwide PV installed capacity. On
Wednesday, August 1, 2007, word was published of construction of a
production facility in China, which is projected to be one of the largest
wafer factories in the world, with a peak capacity of around 1,500 MW.
Germany was the fastest growing major PV market in the world during
2006 and 2007. In 2007, more than 1.3 GWp of PV was installed. The
German PV industry generates over 10,000 jobs in production, distribu-
tion, and installation. By the end of 2006, nearly 88 percent of all solar
ptg
PV installations in the EU were in grid-tied applications in Germany.
The balance is off-grid (or stand-alone) systems. Photovoltaic power
capacity is measured as maximum power output under standardized test
conditions (STC) in “Wp” (Watts peak). The actual power output at a
particular point in time may be less than or greater than this standard-
ized, or “rated,” value, depending on geographical location, time of day,
weather conditions, and other factors. Solar photovoltaic array capacity
factors are typically under 25 percent, which is lower than many other
industrial sources of electricity. Therefore, the 2006 installed base peak
output would have provided an average output of 1.2 GW (assuming 20
percent × 5,862 MWp). This represented 0.06 percent of global demand
at the time.

Countries with the Most Installed Photovoltaic Peak
Power Capacity

In 2007, the countries with the highest photovoltaic peak power
capacity were Germany, Japan, the United States, Spain, and Italy. Table
C.6 lists the rankings based on photovoltaic peak power capacity esti-
mated at the end of 2007. This information is from http://en.
wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaics. In addition to the total capacity at