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her request with a proposal, dated October 30, 1998, to continue earlier research on photovoltaic power generation. The proposal was approved and resulted in continued research followed by a presentation on November 30, 1998 and this final report on photovoltaic power generation. PHOTOVOLTAIC TECHNOLOGY Scientists have known of the photovoltaic effect for more than 150 years. Photovoltaic power generation was not considered practical until the arrival of the space program. Early satellites needed a source of electrical power and any solution was expensive. The development of solar cells for this purpose led to their eventual use in other applications. DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER The photovoltaic effect has been known since 1839, but cell efficiencies remained around 1% until the 1950s when U. S. researchers were essentially given a blank check to develop a means of generating electricity onboard space vehicles. Bell Laboratories quickly achieved 11% efficiency, and in 1958, the Vanguard satellite employed the first practical photovoltaic generator producing a modest one watt. In the 1960s, the space program continued to demand improved photovoltaic power generation technology. Scientists needed to get as much electrical power as possible from photovoltaic collectors, and cost was of secondary importance . Without this tremendous development effort, photovoltaic power would be of little use today. POWER OUTPUT AND EFFICIENCY RATINGS The figures given for power output and efficiency of photovoltaic cells, modules, and systems can be misleading. It is important to understand what these figures mean and how they relate to the power available from installed photovoltaic generating systems. Power Ratings Photovoltaic power generation systems are rated in peak kilowatts (kWp). This is the amount of electrical power that a new, clean system is expected to deliver when the sun is directly overhead on a clear day. We can safely assume that the actual output will never quite reach this value. System output will be promised by the angle of the sun, atmospheric conditions, dust on the collectors, and deterioration of the ponents. When paring photovoltaic systems to conventional power generation systems, one should bear in mind that the PV systems are only productive during the daytime. Therefore, a 100 kW photovoltaic system can produce only a fraction of the daily output of a conventional 100 kW generator. Efficiency Ratings The efficiency of a photovoltaic system is the percentage of sunlight energy converted to electrical energy. The efficiency figures most often reported are laboratory results using small cells. A small cell has a lower internal resistance and will yield a higher efficiency than the larger cells used in practical applications. Additionally, photovoltaic modules are made up of nume