Present status of research and development of PV technology in Japan

The second half of R&D project on photovoltaic (PV) technology under the 'New Sunshine Program' terminated at the end of Japanese fiscal year 2000 with fruitful achievements for solar cell manufacturing technologies and PV system technologies In this paper, the outcome of the project under this program as well as present situation on photovoltaics in Japan are reviewed, and new NEDO PV R&D projects started in JFY2001 are briefly introduced.