Photovoltaic Energy
At the End of 2008, 14GW of Solar Power was installed worldwide, representing less than 1% of total electricity production worldwide. The industry was lead by Europe with 80% of installed capacity. Forecast analysts expect the annual newly-installed capacity to treble between 2008 and 2013 – from 5GW/year to 15GW/year. Most growth will come from the US, south-western Europe and Asia*).
Improving efficiency is the number one objective in the field of photovoltaics:
Ways of converting solar energy into electricity more efficiently are required in order to optimize the technology’s cost-effectiveness. Efficiency gains of as little as one percent can still yield enormous returns in this segment.
Infineon provides a comprehensive portfolio of high-performance products – including CoolMOS™, IGBTs, silicon carbide, IGBT modules and driver ICs – to help customers achieve their aims. These high-performance products boost the eliability and efficiency of inverters for photovoltaic applications. As the leader in high-efficiency technologies, Infineon assists customers in realizing photovoltaic inverter efficiencies of up to 99%.
*) Source: IMS, London