EU PVSEC opens in Amsterdam on Monday

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Henk Kamp, the Netherlands' minister of economic affairs will open the 29th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC 2014) in Amsterdam on Monday.

The opening addresses will be followed by Marie Donnelly, the European Commission's director for distributed generation energy and Fokko Pentinga, president of Amtech Systems, and member of the select Top Team Energy, in the Netherlands.

EU PVSEC's opening ceremony will be chaired by Vladimir Sucha, director general of the European Commission's Joint Research Center (JRC) and by Teun Bokhoven, the conference's chair and president of the Dutch Renewable Energy Federation.

A round table of distinguished international personalities will discuss Europe's role in global PV research, industry and markets after the opening ceremonies. The panel will include Bokhoven; Giovanni De Santi, director of the JRC's Institute for Energy and Transport; Ed Budderbaum, senior policy adviser to the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs; Eicke Weber, director of Germany's Fraunhofer ISE; Wiro Zijlmans, CEO of Dutch company Smit Ovens; Stefan Rinck, CEO of Singulus Technologies, of Germany, and chairman of the Committee for Research and Innovation; and Paolo Frankl, head of the Renewable Energy Division of the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA).

The scientific opening will start with keynote presentations from the University of Valencia, in Paterna, Spain; the Fraunhofer ISE, in Freiburg, Germany; the ECN, in Petten, the Netherlands; and the JRC.

Technical program

The conference program is structured under the guidance of conference technical programme chairman Dr. Arnulf Jäger-Waldau. When the conference takes place, the worldwide installed photovoltaic electricity generation capacity will have already exceeded 160 GW and, according to the Renewable Energy Mid-term Market Outlook 2014, produced by the IEA, it will surpass 400 GW by the end of the decade.

Jäger-Waldau said: "These findings show PV is on the right track to become a major electricity source in the coming years. The fact that in some countries the share of PV exceeds 40% of electricity generation at certain hours, not only shows the huge potential but also underlines the urgency to provide new and cost-effective solutions to dispatch and distribute PV electricity where it is needed."

EU PVSEC Exhibition 2014

PV professionals from about 100 countries are expected to attend with the EU PVSEC exhibition representing the entire PV value chain with international exhibitors including manufacturers of PV production equipment, cell and module manufacturers, systems suppliers and companies and organisations specializing in project development, research, finance and consultancy.

A number of one-day parallel events will take place in addition to the scientific conference programme and PV industry exhibition, offering insight into topics including the latest scientific, technological, market and business-related trends.

The stats

The conference opens its doors from Monday to Friday at the RAI Convention and Exhibition Centre and is complemented by the three-day exhibition, held from Tuesday to Thursday.

Some 1,500 contributions, from 71 countries, will be presented in 87 conference sessions. The conference programme is complemented by eight parallel events with around 100 additional contributions.

EU PVSEC is supported by European and international organisations such as the European Commission; UNESCO; the natural sciences sector; the World Council for Renewable Energy; the EPIA; the International Photovoltaic Equipment Association; the European Space Agency; the European Renewable Energies Federation; the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources; the EU Photovoltaic Technology Platform; the Alliance for Rural Electrification; the European Association of Electrical Contractors; the Continental Automated Buildings Association; the European Photonics Industry Consortium and the Saudi Arabia Solar Industries Association.

The conference programme is co-ordinated by the European Commission and the Joint Research Center.

www.photovoltaic-exhibition.com