The market for solar photovoltaics

There has been an increasing interest in deploying renewable energy technologies as a means of supplying energy needs in a more sustainable manner. This paper describes the recent evolution of the market for solar photovoltaics (PVs) and discusses likely future developments. It provides an overview of the niche markets in which PVs are already competitive with other forms of electricity provision and assessment of the larger markets currently supported by governments, utilities and industry in the expectation that they will become competitive in the future. The paper briefly addresses remaining barriers to the deployment of solar PVs and outlines the principal policy mechanisms being used to foster the development of both the technology and the markets in different countries. The evidence indicates that the PV industry may be on the verge of rapid expansion as economies-of-scale improve production economics, government programmes encourage deployment and more large-scale applications of the technology become viable. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.