Novel and practical photovoltaic applications

Solar energy has witnessed a rapid development during the past three decades. However not all solar technologies have reached the same level of maturity. Photovoltaic (PV) technologies possess the lion share of development in all technical aspects including materials, output efficiency, prices and mass production. A remarkable decrease in the cost of such technologies has allowed their proliferation into energy markets as a synonym to renewable energy. In this framework, this paper offers a review of recent progress in PV applications that have not been categorized or reviewed before. The domains under investigation include transportation, domestic applications, street lighting and water applications. Moreover, an overview of the different sub-applications belonging to each family of applications is presented. In transportation domain, aircraft propulsion and maritime propulsion are reviewed. In domestic applications, heat pumps as well as indoor application are studied. The review also covers water applications including desalination irrigation and pumping. Having said that, the current investigation clearly projects the potential of photovoltaic technology in energy applications and provides an insight about the future progress of this domain.