A monumental event after 2 years of online meetings – WCPEC8

Milan: The 8th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion in Milan was a great success, welcoming more than 1500 participants from 60 countries and covering over 1100 presentations, consisting of Scientific Sessions, engaging Panel Discussions, in-depth Parallel Events and market related Industry Presentations. More participants are joining daily as the content is still available online for three months. The halls of MiCo were bursting with positive energy and optimism and a growing exhibition attracted PV professionals to exchange with industry companies and research institutions alike.

Session recordings globally accessible

In line with the international character of the event, WCPEC–8 wants to include participants from all over the world and do justice to the large number of presentations by making all sessions of the scientific conference programme and parallel events, including plenaries, orals, posters and panel discussions, globally accessible via a dedicated online platform. The sessions are available for streaming on demand for three full months after the event. Tickets for the online platform can be purchased via the WCPEC–8 website.

A global and full–scale PV deployment needs collaboration

This is the main take–away that was mentioned several times at this year’s WCPEC–8. It can be observed that many regions are showing a great deal of ambition to expand PV production, but only through a joint effort can the global energy crisis be overcome. As PV is becoming a key pillar of energy production it also means that disturbances (such as faults) play an increasingly important role. Therefore, it is important to understand these mechanisms. Another important outcome that was mentioned, is that PV research is doing a great job. High efficiencies are being reached, advances are made in the substitution of silver in the solar cells, reduction of costs race remains active and focus in placed on the decrease of use of hazardous materials, just to mention a few examples. But it is key to bring those findings to the right authorities, to inform the general public more and to involve material scientists, chemists and key–players from social and political science.

Integrated PV that add value to existing products or areas has advanced so much in research and industry in the recent years, that the main pressing challenge identified for the widespread not being of technological and economical nature, but regulatory. This shows the need for governments to act faster in order to accelerate the deployment of IPV in fight against climate change. In addition to the scientific conference programme, a multitude of horizontal topics were presented and discussed in the Industry Summit and the Parallel Events.

Award Ceremonies

Looking back at what has already been achieved in the PV sector in the past, it was a pleasure to see Prof. Martin Green, from the University of New South Wales, Australia, being honored with the WCPEC Award for his distinguished contribution to advancement of photovoltaic science and technology; and Prof. Marko Topič being awarded with the prestigious Becquerel Prize for his outstanding and continuous scientific contributions to photovoltaics and his enormous engagement towards creating a strong PV community, in Europe and worldwide.

Student Awards Winners

As is the case every year, the most remarkable and outstanding research work in the field of PV amongst young researchers is rewarded with the Student Award. This year, 7 students were honoured for their high-quality work and presentation at the WPCEC-8.

“Solar photovoltaics is a key driver for the transition to a sustainable energy future. The entire research community underpins this activity which begins with the next generation of scientists and innovators. We applaud the ingenuity of this year’s Student Awards candidates, and we offer our congratulations to the winners.”

Dr. Chris Case, Chief Technology Officer of Oxford PV, Sponsor of the WCPEC-8 Student Awards

Poster Award Winners

The poster sessions are an equally important part of the conference programme, and we were pleased to have the presentations in physical form again this year. As is tradition, the best posters have been selected and acknowledged in the closing session of the conference.

First ever PV Academy

On the occasion of WCPEC–8, the first ever PV Academy took place at the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan. This marks the starting point of a new educational format that aims to provide deep insight into selected topics in PV research and development and to educate and facilitate newcomers to the field of PV research. The PV Academy seeks to be the new platform for knowledge transfer in PV science and will be continuously enriched with new content and lectures. The PV Academy platform will be launched in the upcoming weeks.

Online platform open for 3 months

Too many presentations and not enough time to follow them all? Don’t worry, almost the entire content, including scientific Conference Sessions and Parallel Events will be available for streaming for 3 months after the event.
The private chat will stay open so you can get in touch with fellow participants via the platform.
Sit back, take your time and enjoy the comprehensive knowledge the WPCEC-8 has to offer at your own pace.
Access to the Online Platform is included in all regular on-site tickets (on day(s) registered) as well as with the online ticket.
If you were not able to join us in Milan, you still have the chance to get access to all presentations by purchasing the Online Ticket.
Be fast, there is plenty of content to watch!

EU PVSEC 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal

In 2023, the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition will be held from 18 – 22 September 2023 in the warm and sunny city of Lisbon, Portugal. 2023 will be a special edition, marking the 40th anniversary of the Photovoltaic Conference in Europe.

Background WCPEC–8 / EU PVSEC

The World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC–8) combined the three largest and most prominent international PV conferences: the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (39th EU PVSEC), the Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (IEEE PVSC–50) and the International PV Science and Engineering Conference (PVSEC–32).
The EU PVSEC is the largest international Conference for Photovoltaic research, technologies and applications and at the same time a PV Industry Exhibition, where specialized PV Industry presents technologies, innovations and new concepts in the upstream PV sector. The conference scientific programme is coordinated by the European Commission Joint Research Centre.

Positive news was official media partner of this prestigious conference.

Source: WCPEC-8