Emerging Needs Of Sustainable Technology- Solar Photovoltaic Development In India

Solar Power generation in India ranks within top five countries of world in Green energy revolution. Photovoltaic (PV) cells, or solar cells, are active photoelectric system converting sunlight to electricity. Small panels are constructed with semiconducting material based on photoelectric effect. The material, usually used comprises silicon with potentially other polycrystalline thin films, generating direct current when sunlight hits the panel. PV cells are successful in all regions of the world. Commercially available PV panels are about 22.5% efficient for conversion of sunlight into electricity under standard test conditions, but even in partially cloudy weather, they can operate at about 80% of their maximum output. In India Solar radiation available is more than 300 days amounting to about 3,000 hours of sunshine with power equivalent to 5,000 trillion kWh. India’s economic growth has been hindered by shortage of electricity since transmission and distribution losses have been extremely high over the years due to urban theft. This reached a worst proportion of about 24.7% during 2010-11. Thus, use of solar needs to be commercialized for economic development in India.

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