Well before the end of this century, solar power will be the world’s dominant energy source, according to renewable energy pioneer, Philip Wolfe. And the coming decade will start the transition to the high growth phase as prices fall and regulatory drivers increase.

This is the first book to focus on the development of solar systems for merchant power delivery into the grid. It will be a key reference for those structuring, developing and backing megawatt-scale solar power projects during this exciting stage. It is a manual for those with a commercial, professional, financial, engineering or political interest in the sector, rather than a textbook for specialists or scientists.

Terrestrial solar power applications are still less than fifty years old. The author uses interviews with solar pioneers to highlight the key issues and describe how we got to where we are, what we have learnt along the way, and where this can lead in the future.

The book is a concise, readable, jargon-free treatise on the project development issues of solar power. This is supported by more in-depth analysis of solar power’s policy environment, role, science, economics, applications, history, technology, players, design issues and references for those who wish to explore in greater detail.

The book will include maps of all known existing and planned utility solar parks over 10MW, as further described here.

A downloadable sheet about the book, the author and the publisher is available here

Provisional Chapter Titles

Part A A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 Part B B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 Part C C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6

Contents Foreword Mainstream PV projects – the book Introduction: Why solar energy matters Daylight to electricity: The wonder of photovoltaics Economics and development of mainstream PV Who and why: Structuring solar projects First base: Planning and developing solar projects Getting it down on paper: Designing solar projects Design to reality: Building solar projects Keeping the lights on: Operating solar projects The end game: PV in the mainstream energy mix Solar power and utility-scale PV projects The business of mainstream PV – meet the experts Progress to date – mapping projects over 10MW Getting it right – some project case studies Technology – more about how PV works Technology risk – PV systems in the real world Operational risk – some precautionary tales Project risk – finance, structuring and development Commercial risk – dealing in the energy market Regulatory risk – Those pesky politicians Reference section Notes and references Glossary, units, conversions and standards Diagrams, photographs, tables and boxes Further reading – publications and websites Interviews and acknowledgements Topic index