Photovoltaics: Problems, Challenges, Environmental Feasibility and Efficiency

One of the main directions of the climate goals in the Paris Agreement is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere to prevent global warming. Unfortunately, today we already see how nature is changing due to human influence on it. Therefore, in order to avoid even greater environmental damage, the world's energy infrastructure must change today, with an emphasis on environmental friendliness and efficiency. This opportunity is provided by solar energy, which is an ecologically clean energy source compared to traditional energy sources. The improvement of technologies for the production of solar modules and components for solar power plants, as well as the correct design of energy systems based on photovoltaic elements, are very relevant for all environmentally oriented countries of the world. The article considers the main external problems of photovoltaics, which do not allow this industry to become on par with traditional sources of energy. Based on the results of the analysis, the problems of solar energy in the energy supply of large autonomous systems, such as a city, were established. The design of solar power plants, both autonomous and connected to the grid, does not take into account the global issues of electricity consumption and production, which creates the problem of not needing a lot of energy during the day when solar power plants operate, and maximum energy consumption during peak hours when the sun is no longer shining, resulting in to the grid connection of traditional energy sources, thus reducing the environmental impact to a minimum or making it worse. Options for solving problems with an emphasis on environmental friendliness and efficiency are proposed. A number of internal problems of the sphere, which must be solved in parallel with external ones, are also considered. An example of the use of large-scale solar power plants in autonomous mode is given. The expediency of using photovoltaic sources of electricity generation from the point of view of their productivity and environmental friendliness has been established on the example of the electricity supply of the ecological city of the future.