If the last of more than 1,100 scientific presentations are packed today in the Bilbao Exhibition Center, PV -Magazine Share some collection restaurants of an event that brings the latest solar technologies among the spotlight and creates important connections between scientists and the solar industry.
For five rainy days in Bilbao this week, scientists and industrial figures from all over the field for renewable energy came together for a high level of discussion about where Zonne stands, the challenges for maintaining high installation numbers and a growing share of the energy mix in Europe and beyond, and the new innovations that are made of research and development in commercial activities.
PV -Magazine Many of the conference sessions attended and had the opportunity to speak with different key figures of the solar industry and research community. And here I will summarize a few important pick -up restaurants of the week.
It’s all political
In earlier years, discussions at EU PVSEC focused primarily on technology. This year, however, it was clear from the start that the political political political showers bigger than normal in the minds of many.
In one of the first speeches on Monday morning, Becquerel Institute’s Gaëtan Masson warned that Solar Today runs the risk of moving “a policy driven to a policy -restricted market”, because a negative sentiment in some regions is maintained.
Many other speakers spoke about the necessity of policy interventions to ensure that schedule infrastructure and energy storage keep track of the growth of Solar and cover larger regions and longer periods with renewable energy output. And the increasing need for representatives to “preach to the unconcerned” and work to convince political leaders and the public of the benefits of solar energy and that the investments that our industry still needs will bear fruit.
Production is (still) a must for Europe
The European PV production has been a sad story lately and the discussion had come from the heads of many.
But this week, renewed calls for states and the European Union to re-examine their position and to implement the type of policy that could reduce large-scale PV factories to Europe and reduce the dependence on the region of imports.
The challenge that this entails is well explained in a report published by Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems and Solarpower Europe, which was presented during EU PVSEC. The report showed that higher costs for equipment, work, energy and facilities mean that large -scale systems would produce electricity with the help of European modules at a cost 14.5% higher than an equivalent system with components made by Chinese.
Appropriate support from the policy side can close that gap quickly. And there was much discussion about the exact form that the support should take on, although many point to India as a successful example that Europe could emulate, and most agree that support with the operational phase of a large -scale factory, as with the initial investment in building One, is needed to reach a competitive -producing modules.
Many also expressed frustrations about the lack of EU action in this area. Current plans such as the Net Zero Industry Act can provide some diversification, but will not be sufficient for a return to large -scale production.
This was well explained by statements by Chiara Landrò, responsible for public affairs at Italian energy company Enel, with regard to its 3 GW cell and module factory in Sicily. To date, this project has received more than € 200 million in EU investment support, and Landrò noted during a panel discussion that although the company expected that the facility will be fully increased by the end of 2025, it probably needs further support to be commercially viable. “The market conditions have changed since 2022,” Landrò told the public.
Ai is here
Machine learning processes have long been important for scientists with enormous amounts of data to process. During this year’s conference, however, various steps have shown in the use of artificial intelligence in their work.
Helmholtz Zentrum’s Klaus Jäger demonstrated the use of a large language model to optimize and simulate layers in a solar device. David Moser of Becquerel Institute noted his expectation that solar activities and maintenance will be 60-80% automated in 2030. He shared a clear example of what he called ‘generative AI in action’, with a demonstration of an error detection model that also uses a large language model to ‘symptoms’.
Perovskites need cooperation
The week also saw a wealth of presentations with regard to perovskites and tandem cell technology, including industrial progress with presentations by silicon manufacturer Q cells and Chinese perovskiet specialist Micrquanta with large-scale processing techniques.
However, it is clear that many different materials, techniques and approaches are still being investigated under the umbrella of Perovskites, and there is a growing need to ensure that everyone “speaks the same language” when it comes to results, and especially when demonstrating reliability.
The progress on this was noted in a lecture by the Daniel Tune of ISC Konstanz, who presented a “consensus statement” developed with widespread participation of industry and researchers who sketch the type of tests, should do everything to show reliability in the field. And whatever tests are being performed, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is no replacement for actual outside tests to validate these tests.
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