Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology has developed rapidly in the past decades and is essential in electricity generation. In this study, we demonstrate the relationship between PV incentive policies, technology innovation and market development in China, Germany, Japan and the United States of America (USA) by conducting a statistical data survey and systematic literature review. This article investigates the key policies affecting the development of PV technology from the perspective of solar PV Research and Development (R&D), industry, and market development. Our study highlights how these different kinds of policies drive the countries to change their role on the global stage. The results show the performance of supply-push policies and demand-pull policies during different periods and their significant impact on PV development, while it presenting future challenges and recommendations for PV development. Our study contributes to improve the understanding of PV technology innovation, its market development, and policy evolution through a multiple-perspective analysis of PV development processes.

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The use of heat pump technology to recover the waste heat of circulating water from the power plant instead of steam extraction for heating can not only improve the thermal efficiency of the unit and reduce the loss of cold source, but also has great advantages in energy saving. This paper uses absorption and compression heat pumps to recover the waste heat of circulating water in the power plant to study its energy-saving benefits. Under the same heating load, the economics of the two heat pumps are calculated and analyzed. The results show that the energy-saving benefits of absorption heat pump units are far greater than compression units. But in terms of water saving, the water saving capacity of the compression heat pump unit is higher than that of the absorption heat pump.