On land and sea   Figure 5.32 Two solar-powered cars, entered by the Universities of Michigan and Minnesota, speed at over 100 kph along a Canadian highway during the 2005 North American Solar Challenge (Wikipedia).   Figure 5.33 It has become commonplace for sailors to install PV modules on the decks of ocean-going yachts to power cabin lighting, services, and navigation equipment. There is now growing interest in making the sails themselves ‘photovoltaic’ (EPIA/Shell Solar). &nbsp

Figure 5.34 This installation in the Libyan desert provides cathodic protection, an important application of PV that helps minimise corrosion of metal structures including pipelines (EPIA/Shell Solar).

In heat and cold

Figure 5.35 A PV array produces electricity for a meteorological station in Greenland. In this high northern latitude the vertical array captures much of the available sunlight, and solar cell efficiency is enhanced by the very low temperatures (EPIA/Shell Solar).

For education and information

Figure 5.36 An increasing number of schools worldwide use PV arrays to generate valuable electricity and stir their students ’ imagination for the future of renewable energy. But it is unusual to find a large stand-alone system like this one in China (EPIA/IT Power).

Figure 5.37 Another example of a large PV array in a remote location: this one helps to transmit information by telecommunications link (EPIA/Shell Solar).

References

1. T. Markvart (ed.). Solar Electricity (2nd edition), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester (2000).

2. S. R. Wenham et al. Applied Photovoltaics, Earthscan: London (2007).

3. A. Luque and S. Hegedus (eds.). Handbook of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester (2003).

4. F. Antony et al. Photovoltaicsfor Professionals, Earthscan: London (2007).

5. NASA (eosweb. larc. nasa. gov/sse), Surface Meteorology and Solar Energy Tables (2010).

6. S. Silvestre. Review of System Design and Sizing Tools, in T. Markvart and L. Castaner (eds). Practical Handbook of Photovoltaics, Elsevier (2003).

7. S. Bailey and R. Raffaelle. Space Solar Cells and Arrays, in reference 3 above.

8. Eigg Electric (www. isleofeigg. net/trust/eigg_electric. htm). Isle of Eigg Electrification Project (2010).

9. Synergie Scotland (www. synergiescotland. co. uk). EiggElectrification Project, case study 20 (2010).

10. P. A. Lynn. What is a Solar Boat? Electric Boat News, 18(4) 13 (2005). See also www. electric-boats. org. uk

11. Frisian Solar Challenge (www. frisiansolarchallenge. nl). Frisian Solar Challenge: World Cup for Solar Powered Boats (2010).