THE TIME FOR 1500 V PV SYSTEMS HAS COME With global non-renewable resources becoming increasingly scarce, renewable energy is being called upon in all major electricity markets.
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he International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts that the share of renewable energy in global power generation is expected to be over 30% before 2030, solar PV power generation accounting for 10% of it. By 2040 it will be over 50% (solar PV: 20%) and grow to over 80% (solar PV: 60%) at the end of this century. Meanwhile, global solar power capacity is growing sharply and could reach 540 gigawatts (GW) by 2020, according to a study by SolarPower Europe (SPE). As a cost-competitive, reliable and sustainable electricity source, solar PV is currently blossoming. Europe is the biggest solar market at 157 GW, with the fastest growth in the UK. China is the fastest growing market globally, which is expected to add 86 GW until 2020. The Indian market is predicted to rank in third place with 54 GW, followed by Japan and the United States. Up until now, the comparably high cost of power generation has been the main barrier to mass deployment of PV markets.
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Therefore, more attention is paid to how to reduce the cost and how to improve the efficiency. Statistics show that the Chinese market price for PV modules has dropped from ¥36/W to the present ¥3.5–3.8; for grid-connected PV systems from ¥60/W to ¥7–8; and for inverters from ¥4/W to ¥0.3 from 2007 to 2015. Beyond China, other markets’ prices reduce too. The global average inverter prices will be reduced by 9% per year, dropping from US$0.17/W in 2013 to US$0.11 in the next five years. And the global price of crystalline silicon PV modules on average declines slightly by 5% in 2015, compared with 13% in 2013 and 11% in 2014. Such cost reduction trends are likely to continue, but price pressure is expected to be maintained, though the demand for PV in China, Japan and other emerging markets continues to grow and global inverters could reach around 70 GW (AC grid-connection) in 2018. Achieving PV grid parity is a matter of time. With the realisation of grid parity, it will greatly reduce the cost of power
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