On 18-22 September, over 1500 participants attended the EUPVSEC conference in Lisbon, Portugal. The event brought together PV experts from across the world to delve into the latest insights on R&D.

The conference highlighted the holistic approach needed to guarantee the future of PV, bringing together all sectors and perspectives - scientific, technical, economic, political, business, and also social and educational.During the opening session, SolarPower Europe CEO Walburga Hemetsberger highlighted the grid constraints which can slow down solar installations. She commented; “we are looking back at years of underinvestment in our grids; it needs to get highest political priority...It’s all the more reason the sector has to work with each other to overcome bottlenecks. Together, we can deliver a solar-powered future.”

On the second day of the conference, SolarPower Europe organised an event on ‘Shaping a European Solar Powerhouse,’ to explore the role of innovation in consolidating a European PV manufacturing value chain. Here, Rutger Schlatmann, Head of the Solar Energy division at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, and  European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) Chairman asserted; “The EU needs to innovate at scale,” and shorten the lab to market process, currently proving the biggest challenge to European PV R&I programmes.

During day 3, TRUSTPV, SERENDI PV and ETIP PV jointly hosted a side-event on grids and PV forecasting. Speakers explored the trends and dynamics for the transformation of the grid, while accelerating PV deployment at the transmission and distribution level. David Moser, Head of Eurac research, and ETIP PV Vice-Chair said;"People were saying PV would take the grid down at 10%, 20% penetration rates. This has not happened yet. I think we are ready to have a lot of PV in the transmission and distribution grids!"

On the fourth day of the conference, ETIP PV organised a workshop on ‘Data, AI, IOT: Opportunities and challenges for PV innovation.’ During this session, 40 participants exchanged their knowledge on the ongoing trends for PV R&I in the context of digitalisation.

Other highlights from the conference included SolarPower Europe’s Head of Market Intelligence Raffaele Rossi moderating a session on solar market growth and solar manufacturing. SolarPower Europe Executive Advisor and Director of Market Intelligence, Michael Schmela also participated in sessions on the ‘Development of Sustainability Regulations for the PV Industry, and ‘Unlocking the PV Potential.’

Overall, this year’s conference provided a valuable platform for exchanging, and shaping the key topics of the European solar PV industry.