Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 31 (1993) 95 North-Holland

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

Book Review

Generating Electricity from the Sun by Fred C. Treble (ed.) (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1991) ISBN 0-08-040936-9 (hbk.); 293 pages; price US$75.00.

Generating Electricity from the Sun would be better titled "A Survey of Photovoltaic Technology", since it is a brief, but important, overview of the state of the art in PV theory, configuration, manufacture and implementation. It forms part of Pergamon's Renewable Energy Series (Editor in Chief: A A M Sayigh), which also includes Materials Science for Solar Energy Conversion Systems edited by C.G. Granqvist. If there is one book that illustrates the link between the practical applications of PV and the materials science aspects, this is it. It begins with a survey of solar insolation and radiation data used to establish energy incident on outdoor PV arrays. It then moves on to cover standard single crystal silicon cell theory, manufacture and module fabrication. Array sizing, cell and system analysis are also described. Other materials considered in the sections that follow are CdTe, CdS, CulnSe 2, GaAs and, of course, a-Si:H. Of particular interest to those just beginning their understanding of this field is the graphical description of solar energy available for conversion using traditional and multijunc- tion solar cells. In addit ion, Prof. A. Luque has contributed a section on photo- voltaic concentration which combines the optical and materials aspects of concen- trator-PV systems. His section on the theoretical and practical limits to the conversion efficiency using concentrated and non-concentrated radiation is partic- ularly important. His graphics illustrate that 33%, and 44%, is the upper limit for the conversion efficiency using nonconcentrated, and concentrated Air Mass 1.5 solar radiation, respectively. The concepts of macroscopic and micro concentrators are covered in the book, as well as texturized cells and absorption enhancement. Equally important to solar conversion is storage of the PV generated electricity, and so two sections of the book cover the state of the art in battery technology. The figures in this book are not well captioned, but there is adequate description of the figures in the text. I would recommend this compilation for the high school and undergraduate levels, as well as to anyone involved in energy management or energy policy analysis.

Greg Smestad

0927-0248/93/$06.00 © 1993 - Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved