Solar photovoltaic systems, or PV systems, are the components in a solar cell that actually grab the energy from the sun and turn it into energy. PV cells grab sunlight directly and convert it into electricity. Because of the demand for clean sources of energy, PV systems are the fastest growing area of technology in the world and production of solar cells that use PV systems has been consistently doubling about every two years. Mainly this is due to rising interest in solar energy and the desire of more people to buy solar panels to create their own electricity and heat for their homes. The demand for improved solar power technology encourages governments and businesses to invest time and money into improving the technology and making it more cost efficient.

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The good news is that more and more homes are being built with PV systems already installed which makes it easier and less costly for consumers to buy environmentally friendly homes that run on solar power. Businesses that want to operate factories more cost effectively and in a more environmentally friendly way while collecting some nice government incentives are also installing solar PV energy systems.

Net metering and financial incentives by governments have encouraged the growth of solar supported PV installations in many countries including Germany, Australia, Israel, Japan, and the United States. Germany is currently the biggest market for solar PV systems with the United States, Australia and Spain not far behind.

Solar PV systems are being used successfully around the world to power devices like roadside signs, traffic lights, emergency phones, and other stand alone devices that might be difficult to power using traditional electricity or batteries. Solar PV energy has proved enormously successful at powering these devices. Using solar PV systems in these types of devices and in other everyday machines like parking meters has saved many cities and towns a lot of money because they don’t need to send out regular maintenance crews to make sure that these things are still running properly.

At the end of 2008, global installations reached 15,200 megawatts which consists of approximately 90% of the generating capacity of grid-tied electrical systems. Many of the installations are ground-mounted or built into the roof or walls of a building.

Critics of solar PV systems say that while the solar energy produced by the PV cells doesn’t have any harmful effects to the environment the production of these cells does result in some pollution. Advocates of the solar PV cells say that they are working on developing a type of PV energy cell the production of which won’t produce any pollution. While the production of the cells does create some pollution it doesn’t create as much pollution as other types of materials do when manufactured or used to create energy.

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