27th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition
The Conference was held in Messe Frankfurt and Congress Center, Frankfurt, Germany 24-28
September 2012. The Exhibition was held in the period 25-28 September 2012.
The Conference technical committee approved 1600 papers, 300 were presented orally and 1300
were in poster sessions. There were 4000 delegates from 84 countries. There were 650 exhibitors
mostly from China and Germany.
The Conference each year awards Becquerel Prize to an outstanding scientist or engineer who
advanced the knowledge of PV. In 1839, a Nineteen-year-old Edmund Becquerel, a French
experimental physicist, discovered the photovoltaic effect while experimenting with an electrolytic
cell made up of two metal electrodes.
This year the recipient of the award was Dr Winfried Hoffmann, Chairman of Applied Solar
Expertise (A.S.E.) Germany. He is a member of Scientific Board of Fraunhofer, ISE; ISFH
Organization and Helmholtz. He is the president of European Photovoltaic Industry Association,
EPIA.
The Conference was run very well and included several forums
running parallel with the main sessions. Plenary talks were given by
well-known personalities of the PV world such as Prof Martin Green,
Prof Markvart, Prof C Baur, Dr W Hoffmann, Prof M Ficher, Dr S W
Glunz, Dr H W Schock and Prof Y Yang.
Dr Hoffmann after he received the Becquerel award.
The Conference Opening Ceremoney
The main organizer of the Conference was WIP, Munich, Germany with the help of ETA-Florence.
The below picture shows the main organizers Dr Peter Helm from WIP, Ms Angela Grassi from ETA,
Dr Wolfgang Palz one of the pillars of PVSEC and Prof Ali Sayigh at the Conference Banquet dinner.
One of the main advantages of
meetings such as PVSEC and The World
Renewable Energy Congresses is to
meet friends and associates and to
exchange ideas and knowledge about
new developments in Renewable
Energy.
The picture below shows Prof Takhir Razykov – Solar Energy Research Institute at National
University of Malaysia; Prof Hari M Upadhyaya- Institute of Mechanical Process and Energy
Engineering Heriot Watt University and Prof Dr Sener Oktik – Chairman of Turkish Solar Industries,
taking a moment of relaxation.
Some innovations highlighted at the Conference: The wafers thickness of crystalline and poly
silicon wafers has been reduced by 50%. Silver grids have been replaced by copper. China will
have 20 GW PV installations by 2015 and 50 GW by 2020 while globally there will be 230 GW by
2017 and 270 GW by 2020. Efficiency of CIGS has reached 17.8% and organic cell will reach 15%
by 2015.