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History of Solar
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The photovoltaic (PV) process has been used to generate electricity from sunlight for half a century. The first practical PV cell was invented at Bell Laboratories in 1954, and by the late 1950’s rural communications systems were the first terrestrial applications of photovoltaic technology.
Nearly every satellite and spacecraft since 1958 has relied on a PV system for power generation. Today, the International Space Station and the Mars Explorer and Phoenix Mars Lander continue to rely on PV power generation for the electricity needed to power exercise and experiments.
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In the 1970’s, the oil crisis and Arab oil embargo brought PV solar into prominence. Since its inception, the decades have seen both development and manufacturing improvements for PV products, and the price per watt for PV systems has steadily decreased. In response to both dramatically rising energy costs and environmental concerns worldwide, the production and installation of PV systems is growing rapidly.
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Photovoltaic solar and all renewable energy forms are expected to compose an increasingly larger portion of energy production.
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