Progress in PV technology development under the New Sunshine Program JFY1997-2000-PV system technology

The second half of R&D project on photovoltaic (PV) technology under the 'New Sunshine Program' terminated at the end of JFY2000 with fruitful and satisfactory technological achievements. A variety of R&D activities on PV system technology as well as solar cells were carried out in this project technology development of measuring performance and long-term reliability of solar cells and modules, monitoring and analysis of PV system performance, development of irradiation database for designing PV systems, development of building-integrated PV modules (BIPV), technology development of durable lead-acid battery for PV system, demonstrative research on multiple PV grid connection and control technologies and so on. In this paper, outcomes of these R&D activities on PV system technology are summarized, and a new NEDO 5-year R&D project on PV system technology, which started in JFY2001 based on the fruits of the 'New Sunshine Program', is briefly introduced.