The book Key Issues in Developing Renewable Energy Technologies, of the International Energy Agency published in December 1997, states that photovoltaic system technology has the potential of becoming an important contributor to world electricity supplies in the longer term. The cost reduction anticipated is of 40-50% over the next decade. The IEA volume Enhancing the Market Deployment of Energy Technology, also published in 1997, affirms that the timing and manner in which PV market will develop in the future is not evident, but expansion can be viewed as a certainty. Deployment will increase if technology improvement deliver the cost reductions and performance improvements that are widely believed to be possible.

The mission of the IEA  PVPS programme is:

To enhance the international collaboration efforts through which photovoltaic solar energy becomes a significant renewable energy source in the near future.

The underlying assumption is that the market for PV systems will gradually expand from the present niche markets of remote applications and consumer products, to the utility market, through building-integrated and other diffused and centralized PV generation systems. This market expansion requires the availability of and access to reliable information on the performance of PV systems, design guidelines, planning methods, etc. to be shared with the various actors defined above.

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