Photovoltaic technology is one of the main energy solutions to replace fossil fuels in the near future. In 2012, the installed photovoltaic electricity generation capacity in the world exceeded 100 GW. Looking into the future, if distributed PV systems and large scale PV plants do in fact provide energy users the ability to become self-sufficient, it is necessary for scientists all over the world to further develop highly efficient solar cell devices and optimize PV systems, including design, modeling, fabrication, and characterization of PV devices and modules as well as implementation of PV systems. Therefore, we invite authors to contribute original research as well as review articles on development, design, and optimization of PV devices and systems. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Development, modeling, and reliability improvements of high efficiency solar cells
• Building integrated PV systems
• Developments in power electronics converters used in PV applications
• Distributed generation systems consisting of PV systems and integration with smart grid and smart building
• Power converters for photoenergy conversion

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijp/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/ijp/pds/ according to the following timetable: