Present status and future prospects of silicon solar cell arrays and systems

The first part of this paper deals with the present state of the art of the single crystal silicon cell industry: production volume, cost breakdown and main technologies. In the second section, improvements of the single crystal technologies, caused by mass production and automated physical processes, are described. These developments are compared, with regard to both cost and performance, with the future polycrystalline (or ‘semicrystalline’) materials, including amorphous silicon films. The various approaches, i.e. vapour or liquid film deposition, or oriented bulk ingot crystallization, are discussed. The third part assumes that very low cost goals can be achieved, either through the development of sophisticated single crystal technology, or through a polysilicon breakthrough. Future markets for photovoltaic conversion, including medium-size power generating plants, are then considered.