The use of technology to improve health and general well-being of much of the world's population-and do so at affordable cost-presents electrical and electronics engineers with unusual challenges and opportunities. The topic covered in this paper is photovoltaics, which has the potential of bringing electric energy to millions of remote rural households, greatly enhancing their quality of life. Photovoltaics is attractive because it can help countries avoid the huge expense of expanding electric grids into rural areas. >