3.000 megawatt of photovoltaic power

The aim set by the “Decreto Legge del 19 Febbraio 2007” issued by the Ministry of Environment (Ministero per l’Ambiente e la Tutela del Territorio e del Mare) and the Ministry of Economic Development (Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico), is to produce 3.000 megawatt of electric energy by the photovoltaic solar conversion. This measure was thought to stimulate the diffusion of a very promising technology :the photovoltaic one; in this way every person, can benefit by these incetives, installing a grid-connected photovoltaic plant and turning his own house in a small electric plant.

Generally the most ordinary plants are the GRID-CONNECTED ones. These plants are steadily connected with the electric grid. When the photovoltaic generator cannot produce the necessary power, the grid provides the electric needs; when the system produces more energy than the owner electric demand, that surplus is transfered to the grid. An “inverter” turns the direct current produced by the photovoltaic cells into alternating current.