''The Solar Generation: Childhood and Adolescence of Terrestrial Photovoltaics'' is a 2018 book by Philip R Wolfe published by

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Publishing, publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and pr ...

and the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

. It describes the early years of the solar power sector, covering in particular the years between 1973 and 1999. The author's foreword says this was a period when solar power was "discounted as an irrelevance", but he "confidently predicts that it will be the world's largest energy source" within his lifetime. The book covers specifically

solar photovoltaic A photovoltaic system, also called a PV system or solar power system, is an electric power system designed to supply usable solar power by means of photovoltaics. It consists of an arrangement of several components, including solar panels to abs ...

power generation for terrestrial uses. It does not deal with space applications of solar cells, nor

solar thermal energy Solar thermal energy (STE) is a form of energy and a technology for harnessing solar energy to generate thermal energy for use in Industrial sector, industry, and in the residential and commercial sectors. Solar thermal collectors are classified ...

including CSP.

Book Volumes and Chapters

The book is presented in three parts:

Part I: A biography of terrestrial photovoltaics

This part tells the story of the period from various perspectives; research and technology, industrial development, applications of solar generation, economics and the geo-political context. It has chapters entitled: # Origins of terrestrial solar power; # What is photovoltaics?; # Terrestrial solar applications; # Photovoltaic research; # PV business and markets; # Economics of solar generation; # Solar industry participants; # Geo-politics of the early solar sector; and # The next generation

Part II: Encyclopaedia; People, organisations, events

Central to this section is a 'Who's Who' of the leading participants in the early solar sector: * Profiles of sixty-six leading pioneers of the time. In total over 200 people are mentioned. * Profiles of forty-two companies active in the early PV sector; together with thirteen leading research institutions; and ten national and international agencies. Nearly 100 others are also mentioned. Part II also includes compendia enumerating specific records and achievements in research and technology; national and international policies towards the sector; prizes, awards, conferences and expositions.

Part III: Dictionary; References, glossary and indexes

This very comprehensive reference section includes Acknowledgements; Citations; Bibliography; Glossary and Indexes

References

External links