At the beginning of the 21st century, humanity began to face problems related to the depletion of traditional energy sources and the deterioration of the ecological state of the earth. These problems have become extremely urgent and cause global concerns of the world community.

      It is known that currently all over the world energy is produced using mineral raw materials: oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear fuel. At the same time, it is no secret that the need for energy cannot be satisfied only through the use of fossil sources, and the reserves of traditional energy sources are gradually depleted. Most experts believe that due to the global increase in energy demand, conventional sources will be depleted by the middle of this century.

      The opening of new mines as a result of technological development can only slightly delay the process of resource depletion. It is clear that even if the reserves of traditional energy carriers are not completely exhausted, due to a sharp increase in demand for them, there will be a significant increase in prices.

      One of the most attractive and promising renewable energy sources is photovoltaics, that is, the direct conversion of solar energy into electrical energy. The sun has been able to meet the growing energy needs of mankind for many centuries, and this is now well known to the world community.

     The amount of solar energy reaching the earth in an hour exceeds the amount of energy consumed by mankind in a year, for this reason and, in addition, the limited natural energy reserves and environmental problems increase the need for the use of solar energy.

     Solar energy is the only source of energy that is technically convenient and does not pollute the environment. In the last decade, the use of solar energy has been growing worldwide. Data for 2021 show that almost 5% of the world's electricity will be provided by photovoltaic solar power plants. At first glance it seems that this is a very small amount, but this share is growing very quickly. Decades ago, this figure was only 1 percent, and it was mainly in developed countries. At present, not only developed countries, but also developing countries pay great attention to the use of solar energy.

     According to a 2020 World Bank report, almost all countries in the world have enough geographic conditions, weather and sunshine to not only fully meet their own demand for electricity, but also produce it using solar power plants.

     Looking back at history, the original invention was brought to life in 1954 by the laboratories of the Bell Telephone Company in New York. He had the ability to directly convert solar energy into electricity. It soon became economically viable not only for spaceflight, but also for everyday purposes.

    The energy crisis of the 1970s revived interest in solar energy for business and the home. The UNESCO conference, held in Paris in July 1973, was held under the motto "The sun in the service of man" and gave clear information about the state of solar energy in the world. Until 1973, solar energy was only an object of research for scientists, now it has become a new industry, but at that time this technology was very expensive, and if solar cells were not mass-produced, then over time, photovoltaic cells cost dropped sharply, especially over the past ten years, by more than 59 percent, which opened up the possibility for businesses, organizations and private homes to use solar energy.

      Today, the People's Republic of China leads the world in the use of solar energy. According to statistics for 2021, Australia is the world leader in the share of solar energy in total electricity generation with 15.5 percent.

     In our country, attention is paid to energy as a strategic direction, in recent years new energy facilities have been built. However, population growth and an increase in the number of industrial enterprises from year to year lead to an increase in demand for electricity. It is estimated that the demand for electricity in our country will increase from the current 74 billion kWh to 110 billion kWh by 2030. Naturally, in such a situation, the use of renewable energy sources plays an important role in solving problems.

      In this regard, the use of solar energy is becoming one of the topical issues in our country, and in this regard, important practical work is being carried out. For example, the Tutli photovoltaic power plant, fully developed by the French company Total Eren, is one of the large solar power plants built in Uzbekistan in 2022. Its power is 131 mW. It produces 270,000 kWh of electricity per year and supplies electricity to 140,000 households.

     The construction of many such solar power plants will bring the Uzbek solar energy to a new qualitative level. If large organizations and enterprises switch to the massive use of renewable energy sources, natural resources will be preserved and the amount of damage to nature will be significantly reduced. At the same time, the use of photovoltaic plants that directly convert sunlight into electricity, which is one of the renewable energy sources, contributes to the development of the economy without harming the environment.

Subkhon Akhrorov,
head of the department of
Samarkand State University
named after Sharof Rashidov, associate professor.