VII. STATUS OF Pv SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY
The past two decades have seen remarkable progress in the technical and economic development of PV modules and good progress in the balance of system area. Today, PV module production capability around the world is about 55 MW per year and production has grown at an annual rate over the past few years of 15-25%. The majority of the annual module production goes toward powering small systems in a worldwide market. In the 1970’s and early SOS, it was expected that significant markets would develop for central station PV power plants in the megawatt-size range. The perspective on how PV systems markets will develop has changed. The price of today’s systems, even with large buys by government-supported projects, is not down to the level where this central station market can develop. However, there is a better understanding of how the markets for PV systems are evolving [34]-[36].