The first practical solar cell was developed at Bell Laboratories in 1954. With the advent of the space program, photovoltaic cells made from semiconductor-grade silicon quickly became the power source of choice for use on satellites. The systems were very reliable, and cost was of little concern. In the early 1970s, the disruption of oil supplies to the industrialized world led to serious consideration of photovoltaics as a terrestrial power source. This application focused research attention on improving performance, lowering costs and increasing reliability. These three issues remain important today even though researchers have made extraordinary progress over the years. This article details that progress.

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The US Department of Energy (DOE) through its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has initiated rural development projects in India and China to demonstrate the viability of photovoltaics in meeting the needs of the rural masses for cost-eective and reliable electricity. This paper contains details of the major projects in the two countries, along with descriptions of the implemented photovoltaic systems and lessons learned to date. The successful outcome of these projects will allow duplication of the experiences in other developing areas of the world. # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. INTRODUCTIONE conomic development throughout the developing world has created a need for electricity in both the urban and rural areas. Some two billion people 1 are currently without any or adequate electricity to realize an improvement in their quality of life. Most of these people have little or no access to an electrical grid, therefore distributed sources of electrical power, such as photovoltaics, oer a practical and economic alternative to conventional generation. India and China, the world's most populous countries, were chosen by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to implement photovoltaic (PV) applications to demonstrate 2 the economic viability and social acceptance of PV systems for such applications as home lighting, water pumping, communications, vaccine refrigeration, battery charging, solar lanterns, small power systems and other o-grid systems. The governments of the two countries are participating on a cost-shared basis and will be responsible for sustaining the initiatives beyond what the original projects are able to deliver. Further, it is expected that the results and improvements that occur can be replicated in other areas of the world where similar needs exist. The following material is representative of the initial experiences in the two countries. In addition, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has international agreements in renewable energy technologies with Argentina,

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