Levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) represents the kilowatt-hour cost of building and operating a power generation plant over an assumed financial life and duty cycle.   For a solar PV plant, the typical economic life is 25 years. Essentially, LCOE…

The langley (Ly) is a unit of energy distribution over an area. It is used to measure solar radiation (or insolation). Its is equal to one gram calorie per square centimeter of irradiated surface. Go to Glossary

Lamination is the process which encapsulates solar cells while attaching front and back protective sheets, so that solar panels are capable of withstanding outdoor exposure in all kinds of weather. The lamination process involves pumping the air out of the…

Solar electricity systems are given a rating in kilowatts peak (kWp). kWp is essentially the rate at which the system generates energy at peak performance. The kWp of a domestic solar system will vary depending on how much a customer…

Kerf is the width of a cut used to create wafers from silicon ingots, often resulting in the loss of semiconductor material. In silicon wafer production, kerf loss refers to the amount of silicon consumed as part of the wafering…

IV curve or Current-Voltage curve of a solar cell/panel shows the possible combinations of current and voltage output of a photovoltaic (PV) device. It is a graph that plots the current versus the voltage from the PV device as the…

Irradiation measures solar radiation energy received on a given surface area in a given time. It is the time integral of irradiance. Insolation is another name for irradiation.

Irradiance is an instataneous quantity describing the flux of solar radiation incident on a surface.

Interconnection (and related standards) refers to the technical and practical aspects of connecting the solar generator to the grid.

Insolation is total amount of solar radiation energy received on a given surface area during a given time. Solar Insolation is also known as solar irradiation. Go to Glossary