Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Environmental Engineering

Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability

Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability is a research topic within Environmental Engineering. Science Explorer counts 10k research works in it since 1950. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the environmental impacts, life cycle assessment, energy payback time, and greenhouse gas emissions of solar energy technologies, particularly photovoltaic systems. It also explores the integration of solar panels with agriculture (agrivoltaic systems) and the recycling and end-of-life management of photovoltaic modules.

  • Solar Energy
  • Life Cycle Assessment
  • Photovoltaic Systems
  • Land Use
  • Recycling
  • Agrivoltaic Systems
  • Energy Payback Time
  • Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • End-of-Life Management
  • Renewable Energy
Research works
10k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+93%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
24% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability

Which countries lead Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (615 and 447 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 615 works
  2. 2 United States 447 works
  3. 3 India 369 works
  4. 4 Brazil 284 works
  5. 5 Italy 180 works
  6. 6 Germany 154 works
  7. 7 Spain 140 works
  8. 8 United Kingdom 128 works
  9. 9 France 120 works
  10. 10 Australia 93 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 24.3%United States: 17.7%India: 14.6%Brazil: 11.2%6 others listed: 32.2%24%largest
China615 · 24.3%United States447 · 17.7%India369 · 14.6%Brazil284 · 11.2%6 others listed815 · 32.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and UNSW Sydney.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 40 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 32 works
  3. 3 UNSW SydneyAustralia 30 works
  4. 4 National Laboratory of the RockiesUnited States 29 works
  5. 5 Fraunhofer-GesellschaftGermany 27 works
  6. 6 Universidade Federal de Santa CatarinaBrazil 23 works
  7. 7 Western UniversityCanada 20 works
  8. 8 Helmholtz Association of German Research CentresGermany 19 works
  9. 9 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 19 works
  10. 10 North China Electric Power UniversityChina 15 works

Who are the leading researchers in Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability include Michaël Grätzel, Wei Huang and Frede Blaabjerg.

  1. 1 Michaël Grätzel Switzerland 458k citations
  2. 2 Wei Huang China 267k citations
  3. 3 Frede Blaabjerg Denmark 203k citations
  4. 4 Seeram Ramakrishna Singapore 186k citations
  5. 5 Henry James Snaith United Kingdom 182k citations
  6. 6 Xin Wu France 165k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability?

The most cited paper in Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability is "Renewable energy resources: Current status, future prospects and their enabling technology" (Omar Ellabban, Haitham Abu‐Rub, Frede Blaabjerg, 2014), with 3,133 citations. Next come "Solar energy: Potential and future prospects" (2,488) and "Improvement and validation of a model for photovoltaic array performance" (2,199).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Renewable energy resources: Current status, future prospects and their enabling technology Omar Ellabban, Haitham Abu‐Rub, Frede Blaabjerg · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 6 Aug 2014 3,133
2 Solar energy: Potential and future prospects Ehsanul Kabir, Pawan Kumar, Sandeep Kumar et al. · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 12 Oct 2017 2,488
3 Improvement and validation of a model for photovoltaic array performance W. De Soto, S.A. Klein, William A. Beckman · Solar Energy 17 Aug 2005 2,199
4 A review of solar photovoltaic technologies Bhubaneswari Parida, Selvarasan Iniyan, Ranko Goić · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 12 Jan 2011 2,012
5 Photovoltaic Degradation Rates—an Analytical Review Dirk C. Jordan, Sarah Kurtz · Progress in Photovoltaics Research and Applications 13 Oct 2011 1,521
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability research done?

The largest centres of Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Sydney (Australia), Nanjing (China) and Dhaka (Bangladesh). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Golden and Freiburg.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 155 works
  2. 2 SydneyAustralia 40 works
  3. 3 NanjingChina 40 works
  4. 4 DhakaBangladesh 34 works
  5. 5 ParisFrance 34 works
  6. 6 New DelhiIndia 33 works
  7. 7 ShanghaiChina 33 works
  8. 8 MilanItaly 33 works
  9. 9 GoldenUnited States 32 works
  10. 10 RomeItaly 30 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GoldenUS · 31.8 works30×
  2. FreiburgDE · 21.5 works8.2×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability than the world average.

See Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability on the map

Where is the best place to study Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability?

Among universities, judged by research, UNSW Sydney, Western University and Politecnico di Milano score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 20.78%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidad de JaénPolitecnico di MilanoWestern UniversityUNSW Sydney
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1UNSW SydneyAustralia 84.017.5%9.0×30 +97.5%
2Western UniversityCanada 81.120.4%9.4×20 +970.8%
3Politecnico di MilanoItaly 77.922.8%7.0×19 +589.0%
4Universidad de JaénSpain 67.629.8%15.4×9 +35.6%
5King Fahd University of Petroleum and MineralsSaudi Arabia 63.516.6%8.0×10 +689.2%
6North China Electric Power UniversityChina 62.416.3%6.1×15 +108.3%
7Sapienza University of RomeItaly 60.321.3%2.3×10 +182.3%
8Beijing Normal UniversityChina 59.116.3%3.7×11 +441.1%
9Michigan State UniversityUnited States 55.921.9%3.3×9 +228.0%
10Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 53.524.9%0.8×8 +67.4%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability, country by country

Is Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 93% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability0.022% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability10.4% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Photovoltaic Systems and Sustainability. Keep it to the research: no personal attacks, advertising or links. Any reader can report a post, which collapses it for everyone until it is opened.