At AbleSkills Renewable Energy Centre, both solar PV courses and solar courses are a popular choice amongst the key renewable energy courses available with candidates who wish to train and qualify to take full advantage of a rapidly growing photovoltaics industry, especially in the domestic, residential sector.Frequent news of large scale British and international manufacturers entering the UK solar panel market have been a keen stimulus to driving the market forward via large scale local authority and private housing market projects, creating a demand for competent, qualified PV panel installers.Recent examples include global photovoltaics company, Gehrlicher Solar, opening an UK-based subsidiary in Birmingham and property business, Gentoo, who stepped into PV solar panels with the acquisition of Romag, predominantly housing sector glass manufacturers. This follows on from last month's announcements that Siliken, the Spanish PV module manufacturer, has obtained Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) accreditation for its solar product range and Ikaros Solar setting up an UK subsidiary in Cwmbran, Wales.Accompanying the influx of brand manufacturers, there are also likely to be a range of solar PV products coming onto the market. A skilled and proficient solar PV installer will need to have already gained a sound knowledge of the fundamentals of PV panel technology in order to correctly work with any new type of products.In fact, in just the last decade alone, solar hot water has evolved, especially with the introduction of evacuated tube collectors, which are rapidly becoming the preferred option over flat plate systems. For students on solar courses, learning the difference between the two types and when and how they can be best employed, is a key area of applied knowledge study.Solar collectors transform the sun's radiation into heat, which is then transferred to a special carrier fluid and the?