- PV technology will play a key role in transforming our energy systems – stated by Florence Lambert, Conference Director
- Connect with the global PV community at EU PVSEC to gain knowledge, explore trends and discuss what is needed to keep up the new solar momentum in Europe – stated by Robert Kenny, Technical Programme Chair
Munich/Marseille, 09 September 2019 – The EU PVSEC has opened today in sunny Marseille, France and is chaired by Florence Lambert, Director of CEA Liten (the Laboratory for Innovation in new Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials). The programme covers fields of interest to all stakeholders, ranging from concepts, materials and cells, to applications, systems, policies and markets. Dedicated plenary sessions provide an excellent overview of the current status of our ever more important renewable energy source.
The conference has started with the Scientific Opening and the Becquerel Prize Ceremony. Delivery of the prize, Becquerel Prize Winner, Pierre Verlinden, Consultant to PV Companies, Visiting Professor at SunYat-sen University (Guangzhou), highlighted during his presentation: “The World has just one generation to accomplish a complete transformation of the Energy Economy to zero CO2 emissions. As members of the PV Industry and the PV research community, our work is critical and faces many challenges, not so much technical rather political and educational”.
Opening Addresses have been held by Florence Lambert, EU PVSEC Conference General Chair, Director of CEA Liten, the Laboratory for Innovation in new Energy Technologies and Nanomaterials, France, Laurent Michel, Director General of Energy and Climate, Ministry for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, France as well as by Piotr Szymanski, European Commission, Director of the JRC Directorate C for Energy, Transport and Climate and Walburga Hemetsberger, Chief Executive Officer of SolarPower Europe.
Florence Lambert stated about PV and the event: “The transition to a sustainable energy future will only be possible with a carbon-free energy sector dominated by renewables. As a major contributor to a cleaner and safer future for the planet, PV technologies will play a key role in transforming our energy systems while enabling a massive shift to carbon-free energy. As costs have come down, renewable energy is being rolled out at record levels. However, because emission levels are too high for reaching the targets set in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, there is still much progress to be made to get renewables into the energy mix at an even faster pace”.
Piotr Szymanski summarised his presentation with the statement: “The European Commission’s strategic long-term vision “A clean planet for all” calls for a climate neutral EU by 2050. The European Commission’s science and knowledge service performs research in a range of subjects which support the vision. It is concluded that PV is a key enabler for the European long-term strategic vision for a climate neutral economy”.
Walburga Hemetsberger, SolarPower Europe, announced during the opening session: “Solar has entered a new era of growth in Europe. With strong market prospects, now is the right moment to build on Europe’s highly innovative and state of the art solar technologies, that will create thousands of clean energy jobs in Europe and accelerate the energy transition. SolarPower Europe, through its industrial competitiveness task force established in 2016, calls for an industrial strategy for the whole solar value chain with a particular focus on manufacturing, that will see Europe take solar industry leadership.
The opening addresses are followed by a moderated panel discussion with participants from Institutes, Policy and PV Industry about the “The Future of PV Manufacturing in Europe” in the coming TW age. Eicke Weber, prel. Chair European Solar Manufacturing Council: “PV is at the beginning of its growth curve, leading from currently 500 Gigawatt global installations to the expected 30 – 50 Terawatt in 2050! The window of opportunity to re-start cost-effective production of solar cell in a gigawatt range, based on a green carbon-footprint of the production process, will be closing soon. Such an effort will have to start to de-risk investments in such a future EU-based multi-Gigawatt solar cell production”.
Robert Kenny, EU PVSEC Technical Programme Chair: “The EU PVSEC will continue to showcase from 09 to 13 September 2019 the most recent developments in concepts, materials and applications. From the perspective of materials and device, we have added topics to encourage further input in the fields of perovskite materials and tandem device concepts. At the system scale, we have included a supplementary topic on storage. We also encourage submissions related to grid integration issues, including from utilities and operators of other intermittent power sources, aiming to promote knowledge transfer.”
Since 1977, the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) has combined a renowned international scientific Conference with a leading PV Industry Exhibition and trade fair. During five Conference and four Exhibition days, international products and technical innovations from all areas of photovoltaics are on show.
The EU PVSEC is supported by many European and international organisations.
