38th EU PV Solar Energy Conference & Exhibition
From 6 till 10 September, the 38th European PV Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition will take place. The EU PVSEC is the largest international Conference for Photovoltaic research, technologies and applications, and at the same time a top international PV Industry Exhibition. It gathers the global PV community to conduct business, network and present and discuss the latest developments and innovations in Photovoltaics. During this year’s conference, SolarPower Europe, in collaboration with GET.invest, will organise two side-sessions.
6 September 2021| 17:00 – 18:30 CEST – The potential of floating solar in Africa
The high level of solar irradiation in Africa, combined with the reliance by some countries on hydropower, means that there is a very large potential for the deployment of floating solar in existing hydropower reservoirs to generate electricity during drought periods and reduce evaporation losses in the reservoirs. A recent study published by the EU’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) indicates that covering less than 1% of Africa’s hydropower reservoirs, the installed hydropower capacity in Africa could double and 743 million m³/year water could be saved.
The session will explore the opportunities of floating solar to simultaneously support improving access to electricity and clean water in the African continent. It will include a presentation of the JRC study followed by a moderated panel discussion with African and European experts.
8 September 2021 | 10:30 – 12:00 CEST – Quality assurance of solar PV power plants in Africa
Building on the work around the African editions of the O&M and EPC Best Practice Guidelines, this session will bring together African and European solar PV quality experts to discuss challenges and solutions for solar PV quality assurance and quality management in Sub-Saharan Africa. The session will explore the differences between quality assurance and management in Europe and in Africa, looking at vertically integrated and specialist firms in this field. Following this, the discussion will explore quality management at both the utility-scale and for C&I systems, giving an idea of the challenges and governance of these two areas.
