The extremely hot summer in 2018 could have a similar consequence for the coal power plants as the Fukushima accident for nuclear power stations in 2011. The lack of cooling water had the consequence that many coal power plants had to be shut down during summer and more electricity from renewables was fed into the grid. Due to hotter and hotter summers the coal power plants have to be step by step replaced by renewables: this was also requested by the EU commission after the summer 2018. This will speed up PV installations in EU and world-wide again. We have summarised in our bifacial PV book that, in order to bring new photovoltaic (PV) technology into the market - even if it is only an evolutionary technology - much more has to be considered and worked on than just high power and low costs. A big challenge is how to make the technology bankable and how to reach and to convince the end customers. However, bankability still remains an issue. Therefore, setting standards, as well as create easy, understandable and comfortable simulations that are validated for their accuracy by a sufficient amount of case studies (field data), are very important issues. The chapters of this book describe step-by-step the technological, economical and commercial status of bifacial technology and sketch the future variety and fields of applications.

Chapter Contents:

• 9.1 Summary
• 9.2 Outlook
• 9.2.1 Growth of PV
• 9.2.2 Predictions of new cell and module technologies
• 9.2.3 Future of bifacial PV
• References

Inspec keywords: renewable energy sources; power generation economics; power generation planning; photovoltaic power systems

Other keywords: bifacial PV technology; economical status; bankability; renewables; nuclear power stations; coal power plants; photovoltaic technology

Subjects: Power system planning and layout; Solar power stations and photovoltaic power systems; Power system management, operation and economics