Contribution for a better understanding of the technological sustainability in electrical energy production through photovoltaic cells

Abstract

The conversion of solar energy into electricity

reveals a huge importance in the production of “clean” energy ,

mainly when applied to decentralized production systems

(micro-generation). However, there is the need to develop and

optimize these processes in order to turn it more sustainable in

economic and technological scoops. The main purpose of this

work is to study the solar energy conversion into electricity

through photovoltaic cells, characterizing the process

efficiencies. This study intends to evaluate the energetic and

exergetic efficiencies defining them as indicators in the

formulation of a sustainability index. All the procedures are in a

theoretical scope with an illustrative example in the end of this

work.