How Solar Power Dominated the Renewable Energy Industry

A photovoltaic cell is a very simple thing: a square piece of silicon, usually 182 millimeters on each side and about a fifth of a millimeter thick, with thin wires on the front and an electrical contact on the back. Shine light on it, and an electrical potential—a voltage—builds up across the silicon: hence “photovoltaic,” or PV. Run a circuit between the front and the back, and in direct sunlight that potential can provide about seven watts of electrical power.

This year, the world will produce about 70 billion solar cells — the vast majority in China — that will be sandwiched between sheets of glass to create what the industry calls modules but most people call panels: 60 to 72 cells at a time, which is typical of most modules that go on residential roofs, and even more for those destined for commercial installations.

Economist