Abstract :
Reprinted from the EPRI Journal, March 1989. Low-efficiency thin-film photovoltaic modules are already on the consumer market in solar-powered calculators, patio lights, battery chargers, and remote power gear. If the efforts of many researchers and over a dozen companies in the United States and overseas pan out, thin films eventually will be confirmed as a low-cost route to solar electricity that lights a path to the ultimate market: utility bulk power, with systems ranging in power from kilowatts to megawatts and beyond.
