Preface

Chapter 8 **Multicell Design for Concentrated Photovoltaic**

Muhammad Burhan, Muhammad Wakil Shahzad and Kim Choon

Chapter 9 **Single-Switch Differential Power Processing PWM Converter to Enhance Energy Yield of Photovoltaic Panels under**

Masatoshi Uno, Toru Nakane and Toshiki Shinohara

**(CPV) Module 111**

**Partial Shading 131**

Ng

**VI** Contents

Renewable energy resources and significant opportunities for energy efficiency exist over wide geographical areas in contrast to other energy sources that are concentrated in a limit‐ ed number of countries. Rapid deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency and technological diversification of energy sources would result in significant energy security and economic benefits.

Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaic (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power, or a combination of both. Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric cur‐ rent using the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic materials include silicon (most prominent), semiconductor compounds (thin film), and combinations thereof in multi-junction cells.

We wish to thank everyone who, whether in a professional or personal field, showed patience, understanding, and helpfulness during the intensive phase of the creation of this book.

> **Dr. Beddiaf Zaidi** PRIMALAB Laboratory Department of Physics Faculty of Materials Science University of Batna 1 Batna, Algeria

**Chapter 1**

**Provisional chapter**

**Introductory Chapter: Introduction to Photovoltaic**

**Introductory Chapter: Introduction to Photovoltaic** 

Solar radiation is a radiant energy emitted by the Sun as a result of its nuclear fusion reactions. Spectral characteristics of solar radiation, both external to the Earth's atmosphere and at the ground, can be seen in **Figure 1**. Over 99% of the energy flux from the Sun is in the spectral region of 0.15–4 μm, with approximately 50% in the visible light region of 0.4–0.7 μm. The total amount of energy emitted by the Sun and received at the extremity of the Earth's atmo-

/s. The amount of energy received per unit area of the

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use,

distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.74389

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

**1. Spectral characteristics of solar radiation**

Beddiaf ZaidiAdditional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.74389

sphere is constant, that is, 1370 W/m<sup>2</sup>

**Figure 1.** Spectral distribution of radiation intensity [1].

**Effect**

**Effect**

Beddiaf Zaidi

#### **Introductory Chapter: Introduction to Photovoltaic Effect Introductory Chapter: Introduction to Photovoltaic Effect**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.74389
