There is nothing like a good set of pictures to illustrate PV’s extraordinary progress and I have enjoyed enlivening the text with colour photographs obtained from around the world. I hope that my readers will regard them as an important and inspirational aspect of the book. They come from widespread sources and I have received generous cooperation from people in many organisations and companies who have provided copyright permissions and, in several cases, suggested stunning alternatives to illustrate particular topics.

I am especially grateful to the two international organisations that have provided the lion’s share of the photographs reproduced in this book:

1. The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA)

2. The International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS)

3. Additional acknowledgements

I am also grateful to a further group of companies and organisations that have agreed to their photographs appearing in this book, and for help received in each case from the named individual:

• Amonix Inc. (Nate Morefield)
  3425 Fujita Street, Torrance, CA 90505, USA
• Boeing Images (Mary E. Kane), USA
  www.boeingimages.com
• Dyesol Ltd (Viv Tulloch)
  P.O. Box 6212, Queanbeyan, NSW 2620, Australia
• Dylan Cross Photographer (Dylan Cross), USA
  [email protected]
• First Solar Inc. (Brandon Michener)
  Rue de la Science 41, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
• Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust (Maggie Fyffe)
  Isle of Eigg, Inverness‐shire PH42 4RL, Scotland
• Padcon GmbH (Peter Perzl)
  Prinz‐Ludwig‐Strasse 5, 97264 Helmstadt, Germany
• Steca Elektronik GmbH (Michael Voigtsberger)
  Mammostrasse 1, 87700 Memmingen, Germany
• Tamarack Lake Electric Boat Company (Montgomery Gisborne)
  207 Bayshore Drive, Brechin, Ontario L0K 1B0, Canada
• Wind and Sun Ltd (Steve Wade)
  Leominster, Herefordshire HR6 0NR, England

The publishers acknowledge use of the above photographs, which are reproduced by permission of the copyright holders, and individually acknowledged where they appear in the text.

The use of three photographs from the NASA website, and several pictures from the Wikipedia website is also gratefully acknowledged.

The author of a comparatively short but wide‐ranging book on PV – or any other technology – inevitably draws on many sources for information and inspiration. In my case several longer and more specialised books, valued companions in recent years, have strongly influenced my understanding of PV and I freely acknowledge the debt I owe their authors, often for clear explanations of difficult concepts that I have attempted to summarise. These books are included in the chapter reference lists, and you may notice that a few of them appear rather frequently. I have tried to give adequate and appropriate citations in the text.

My previous books on electrical and electronic subjects have been more in the nature of standard textbooks, illustrated with line drawings and a few black‐and‐white photographs. When the publishers agreed to my proposal for an introductory book on PV containing full‐colour technical drawings and photographs, I realised that a whole new horizon was in prospect, and have enjoyed the challenge of trying to choose and use colour effectively. The photographs, many of them superb, have already been mentioned. It has also been a great pleasure to work closely with David Thompson, whose ability to transform my sometimes rough sketches into clear and attractive technical drawings has been something of an eye‐opener.

For nearly 15 years my main involvement with PV was as Managing Editor of the Wiley international journal Progress in Photovoltaics: Research & Applications. Among the many editorial board members who gave valuable advice over that period, I should particularly like to mention Professor Martin Green of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), world‐renowned for his research and development of silicon solar cells; and Professor Eduardo Lorenzo of the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), whose encyclopaedic knowledge of PV systems and rural electrification was offered unstintingly. It was both a privilege and a pleasure to work with them for many years. And although any shortcomings in this book are certainly my own, any merits are at least partly due to them and other members of the board.

Finally I should like to thank the editorial team at Wiley UK for their enthusiasm and guidance during this project. They, and others, have eased into publication this account of an exciting new technology that magically, and quite literally, produces electricity from sunlight.