Title: What Defines the PV Technology of the Future?
Abstract: Rapid electrification is driving sustained growth in electricity demand, increasing the urgency for scalable, reliable, and low cost power. Photovoltaics (PV) are uniquely positioned to meet this challenge.
While commercial silicon and CdTe thin film PV continue to show improvements in efficiency and cost, these mature platforms operate within increasingly well defined performance, materials, and manufacturing boundaries. Understanding these boundaries is essential with respect to evaluating new PV concepts.
Discovery and development efforts of novel PV materials and device concepts are needed to access higher performances and enter underserved markets. Yet history offers a clear warning: despite hundreds of alternative PV technologies proposed over the past decades, CdTe remains the only non silicon technology to achieve sustained success at multi gigawatt manufacturing scale.
This talk will review attributes of CdTe compared to other advanced thin-film PV technologies (e.g., CIGS, OPV, perovskites) through the lens of manufacturability and scale, which will lead us to identifying technical and strategic questions that must be addressed early in the discovery and development of new emerging technologies to increase the likelihood of durable, real world impact.
Title: New Ground for CdTe, Chalcogenides, and PV Research
Abstract: CdTe PV modules are competitive in the current U.S. market environment and typically represent a substantial fraction of PV modules deployed in the United States, often making up 20-30% of annual utility-scale module deployment. Developed across an extensive history of improvements driven by industry and academic research, the technology has been shown to be compatible with U.S.-based manufacturing and can achieve high levels of domestic content and domestic value added.
Numerous opportunities remain to advance CdTe cell efficiency through improvements to the materials and interfaces that make up completed cells. This talk will discuss the challenges of innovating in a material space defined by potent defect chemistry and significant sensitivity to fabrication methods and processing parameters. Highlights from recent projects and programs will be provided to illustrate potential paths forward for CdTe technology at a time that is characterized by rapidly increasing demand for energy and energy technologies.
Title: The Overlooked Potential of III-V Tandem Photovoltaics and How To Make It Work
Abstract: III-V tandem solar cells reach by far the highest photovoltaic conversion efficiencies. At the same time, they offer superior stability, proven by hundreds of space missions over the last 25 years. A recent life cycle assessment confirms that III-V solar cells in combination with concentration of sunlight outperforms silicon PV in all impact categories. And in fact, such high-concentration systems saw a boom in the years 2012 to 2015 with several hundred MW of installed capacity. But then the technology disappeared quickly from the market. The main reason was high production costs of III-V solar cells which are produced following the same procedures as in the microelectronics industry. Expensive cleanrooms, low throughput machines and labor-intensive processes inhibit competitive prices. But is there really nothing we can do about it? This talk summarizes the latest development of concentrating PV cells, modules and systems and it discusses how a competitive III-V tandem PV industry can be built using high-throughput and low-cost manufacturing technology.
Prior to this role, Danielle led technical efforts in GE Renewable Energy to develop differentiated products and services across the broadest renewable energy portfolio in the industry, including onshore wind, offshore wind, solar PV, batteries, hydro and grid solutions. She has been a consistent champion for sustainability and diversity and is a regular speaker on Energy Transition topics.
Danielle was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021. She received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University. Danielle is on the Board of Trustees at the University of Notre Dame and serves on the National Academy of Engineering’s President’s Business Advisory Committee. She also co-chairs the National Research Roundtable (GUIPRR), and serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech.
Title: Building the Future – U.S. PV Manufacturing
Abstract: This plenary talk will highlight the technological and strategic innovations driving solar manufacturing in the U.S. Hear firsthand how the domestic solar landscape is being transformed through vertically integrated manufacturing, including cutting-edge c-Si wafer and cell production facilities. Insights into technology selection processes and advanced equipment implementation will be shared. This talk will also address critical supply chain challenges, workforce development solutions, and advanced technology roadmaps that will shape the competitive landscape through 2026 and beyond.
Title: The Critical Role of Recombination Characterization in High-Efficiency Silicon Technologies.
Abstract: Fielding high-efficiency silicon technologies approaching the limit efficiencies requires an optimization of the silicon material and the surface passivation for the solar cell. This near-perfect optimization also needs to be stable over the useful lifetime of the modules, now exceeding 30 years. This talk will focus on the evolution of characterization techniques for recombination lifetimes that support this work as ingot dopants have changed, bulk lifetimes have approached limits, and surface passivation has improved by orders of magnitude. Over the years, cell optimization has also required debugging each degradation mechanism that has been revealed due to the innovative high-efficiency designs. Each new cell design, substrate material, or process innovation driving progress has the potential to both increase efficiencies or lower cost—but could also introduce a new degradation mechanism requiring detailed characterization, understanding, and mitigation.
Title: Perovskite Multijunction Solar Cells
Abstract:Crystalline silicon solar cells dominate the photovoltaic market. The technology is mature, reliable, and low costs, driving global widespread adoption in the past decade. However, its power conversion efficiency is limited to <30% because of sub-bandgap losses when encountering low-energy photons and thermalization losses when excess photon energy is lost as heat.
Multi-junction tandem cells overcome these losses by stacking layers with different bandgaps, each optimized for a portion of the solar spectrum. Efficiency limits rise with the number of junctions, e.g., ~45% for two and ~51% for three junctions. These designs have long been used in III–V solar cells for space applications, where performance outweighs cost consideration.
Recently, organic–inorganic metal halide perovskites have emerged as promising, low-cost candidates for next-generation tandems, thanks to their rapid efficiency gains. At the University of Sydney, we explore perovskite tandem technologies, contributing to recent advances in efficiency and stability, and applications for terrestrial and space environments.
Title: Yield forecasting conundrums
Abstract: The utility-scale PV industry contends with large uncertainties in its forecasts and experiments. The energy yield from a PV plant is typically predicted with an uncertainty of ±4–8%, and forecast models are not easily evaluated because measurements at test facilities have errors of, say, ±2–5%. And yet, for large power plants, even small gains in energy yield—like +0.5%—can translate into significant financial returns. These large uncertainties, combined with the importance of marginal gains, introduce a variety of conundrums. For example, how can incremental technical advances be demonstrated in the field? How should forecasting models be compared when their differences fall within experimental error? What constitutes sufficient evidence to validate a new model? How should uncertainties inform the acceptance criteria during commissioning? This talk explores these and other yield forecasting conundrums through practical examples, providing insight into how they can be addressed by experimentation and modelling.
Abstract: This review examines the long-term reliability and performance of PV modules, highlighting the potential for modules designed with optimal durability for lifespans over 30 years. It also explores recent market trends, noting that the rapid introduction of technological innovations and design changes in the latest generation of panels may threaten their long-term reliability, risking the solar industry's established reputation. It is divided into two parts, providing insights from recent literature on the reliability of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules operating for 30+ years and exhibiting optimal long-term performance, with service lifetimes extrapolations to 40+ years. The performance of these modules is linked to their design and bill-of-material (BOM) and clearly indicate the great potential – in terms of durability – for optimally designed modules and systems.
In the second part, we review four macro-trends that presently characterize the solar PV module market (i.e. exponential growth, sharp cost decline, technology, …) and focus on the technological revolution that is characterizing the market in the last five years. However, due to the rapid introduction of these innovations in the market – deployed without a proper track record from the field – and the frequent simultaneous adoption of multiple changes in the same module design, the reliability and durability of the latest generation of solar panels are at risk. In fact, only very recently have major weaknesses and design limitations, previously supported only by anecdotal evidence, begun to be reported in the literature and properly understood. This has reached a point where some of these changes (and particularly their combinations and interdependencies) are starting to be questioned.
Title: Data-Driven Modeling of Photovoltaic Solar Inverter Dynamics
Abstract: The trend in electric power systems is the displacement of traditional generation (e.g., coal, natural gas) with renewable energy resources (e.g., PV solar) and battery energy storage. These resources are interfaced to the grid through power electronics, commonly termed inverter-based resources (IBRs), which fundamentally changes voltage and frequency behavior across the system. Detailed IBR models are often proprietary, while electromagnetic transient (EMT) models are computationally expensive for large-scale studies. This presentation introduces a data-driven modeling framework that uses measured PV inverter responses to develop reduced-order dynamic representations suitable for grid-level analysis. The proposed approach enables scalable and repeatable inverter dynamic modeling without requiring access to internal control details, enabling improved assessment of IBR-dominated system performance.
Kleissl has published over 150 papers in the top journals of solar energy resources, forecasting, and integration. Kleissl and his students and postdocs developed one of the first and most successful PV variability models for large solar power plants. The model has been released open source in Sandia National Lab's PV-Lib toolbox and used by 100s of researchers and practitioners globally. Kleissl also pioneered the field of sky imager forecasting and developed some of the most advanced physics-based modeling tools for sky imagery. Recently Kleissl focused on PV integration into electric distribution systems and developed optimal voltage control techniques for smart solar PV inverters through the National Science Foundation DERConnect Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure
Title: Solar power integration advances
Abstract: Various solutions to addressing the variability of solar resources and its effect on power system operation have been proposed. Solar forecasting has become an essential ingredient of power system operation in the many balancing areas with high solar power penetration. Satellite imagery plays a critical role in providing system-wide (and global) spatially and temporally resolved data for solar resource and forecasting models. The talk will review recent AI applications in satellite solar resource estimation and forecasting. Firm PV is another active research area that addresses solar resource variability. Firm PV pairs solar PV with energy storage and other generators to achieve a least-cost solution for stable / form power generation. The talk will review the latest research on firm PV. Finally, test beds are increasingly used for validating power system technologies. The talk will introduce the National Science Foundation DERConnect testbed for distributed control of distributed energy resources.
Title: The Impact of PV Technology on GHG Mitigation Pathways
Abstract: The newly established Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) in Korea now leads integrated climate and energy governance, alongside an updated 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targeting a 53–61% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2018 levels. The government aims to expand renewable energy capacity to 100 GW by 2030, with a strong focus on solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind power. To achieve this, it is accelerating deployment through regulatory reforms, cost-reduction strategies, and power system transformation. The MCEE has launched the Tech-Driven GHG Assessment Research Consortium to establish a technology-based approach for systematically assessing renewable energy deployment potential and GHG mitigation potential across sectors. Within the renewable energy sector, particular emphasis is placed on solar PV, wind power, and energy storage systems (ESS), given their significant mitigation potential. This study presents a technology database–driven framework to evaluate PV deployment potential and its contribution to GHG mitigation in Korea under diverse technical and policy conditions. By linking technology characteristics with spatial, economic, and regulatory factors, the framework enables a comprehensive and realistic assessment of deployment feasibility. This work provides a robust analytical foundation for understanding the role of PV technologies in GHG mitigation pathways and offers actionable insights for policymakers and stakeholders to accelerate Korea’s energy transition and achieve its climate targets.
PLENARY SPEAKERS
Area 1: Vera Steinmann, First Solar
Dr. Vera Steinmann is a Staff Innovation Manager at First Solar, managing the External Academic R&D Program that supports internal development pathways as well as explores emerging technologies. She is a trained physicist with experience and expertise in the thin film PV and OLED industry.Title: What Defines the PV Technology of the Future?
Abstract: Rapid electrification is driving sustained growth in electricity demand, increasing the urgency for scalable, reliable, and low cost power. Photovoltaics (PV) are uniquely positioned to meet this challenge.
While commercial silicon and CdTe thin film PV continue to show improvements in efficiency and cost, these mature platforms operate within increasingly well defined performance, materials, and manufacturing boundaries. Understanding these boundaries is essential with respect to evaluating new PV concepts.
Discovery and development efforts of novel PV materials and device concepts are needed to access higher performances and enter underserved markets. Yet history offers a clear warning: despite hundreds of alternative PV technologies proposed over the past decades, CdTe remains the only non silicon technology to achieve sustained success at multi gigawatt manufacturing scale.
This talk will review attributes of CdTe compared to other advanced thin-film PV technologies (e.g., CIGS, OPV, perovskites) through the lens of manufacturability and scale, which will lead us to identifying technical and strategic questions that must be addressed early in the discovery and development of new emerging technologies to increase the likelihood of durable, real world impact.
Area 2: Brion Bob, U.S. Department of Energy
Brion Bob is a Physical Scientist within the Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation at the U.S. Department of Energy. As part of CMEI’s Energy Technologies pillar he works to develop cutting-edge energy technologies with the goal of reducing the cost of energy for American ratepayers. For the past 10 years, Brion has supported programs pursuing a wide range of approaches to improve the lifecycle performance and reduce the lifecycle cost of multiple technologies including CdTe, Cu(In,Ga)Se2, and silicon photovoltaics.Title: New Ground for CdTe, Chalcogenides, and PV Research
Abstract: CdTe PV modules are competitive in the current U.S. market environment and typically represent a substantial fraction of PV modules deployed in the United States, often making up 20-30% of annual utility-scale module deployment. Developed across an extensive history of improvements driven by industry and academic research, the technology has been shown to be compatible with U.S.-based manufacturing and can achieve high levels of domestic content and domestic value added.
Numerous opportunities remain to advance CdTe cell efficiency through improvements to the materials and interfaces that make up completed cells. This talk will discuss the challenges of innovating in a material space defined by potent defect chemistry and significant sensitivity to fabrication methods and processing parameters. Highlights from recent projects and programs will be provided to illustrate potential paths forward for CdTe technology at a time that is characterized by rapidly increasing demand for energy and energy technologies.
Area 3: Frank Dimroth, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, Germany
Frank Dimroth has been working on III-V tandem photovoltaics since the late 1990s. Today he is co-heading the department “III-V photovoltaics and concentrator technology” at Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg, Germany where his team performs applied research on next generation III-V technologies including CPV, space solar cells, laser power converters and thermophotovoltaics. Numerous record efficiencies for PV cells and modules as well as 400 scientific publications have been the outcome of this work. Frank Dimroth was co-founder of the company Concentrix Solar in 2005 and is currently preparing the startup Clearsun Energy to commercialize a new generation of III-V micro-CPV systems.Title: The Overlooked Potential of III-V Tandem Photovoltaics and How To Make It Work
Abstract: III-V tandem solar cells reach by far the highest photovoltaic conversion efficiencies. At the same time, they offer superior stability, proven by hundreds of space missions over the last 25 years. A recent life cycle assessment confirms that III-V solar cells in combination with concentration of sunlight outperforms silicon PV in all impact categories. And in fact, such high-concentration systems saw a boom in the years 2012 to 2015 with several hundred MW of installed capacity. But then the technology disappeared quickly from the market. The main reason was high production costs of III-V solar cells which are produced following the same procedures as in the microelectronics industry. Expensive cleanrooms, low throughput machines and labor-intensive processes inhibit competitive prices. But is there really nothing we can do about it? This talk summarizes the latest development of concentrating PV cells, modules and systems and it discusses how a competitive III-V tandem PV industry can be built using high-throughput and low-cost manufacturing technology.
Area 4: Danielle Merfeld, Qcells, USA
As Global Chief Technology Officer, Danielle leads Qcells’ research and development for advanced solar products and complete energy solutions. She is focused on accelerating the company’s efforts to enhance technology capability as it embarks on building the United States’ first fully integrated solar supply chain.Prior to this role, Danielle led technical efforts in GE Renewable Energy to develop differentiated products and services across the broadest renewable energy portfolio in the industry, including onshore wind, offshore wind, solar PV, batteries, hydro and grid solutions. She has been a consistent champion for sustainability and diversity and is a regular speaker on Energy Transition topics.
Danielle was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021. She received her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University. Danielle is on the Board of Trustees at the University of Notre Dame and serves on the National Academy of Engineering’s President’s Business Advisory Committee. She also co-chairs the National Research Roundtable (GUIPRR), and serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the Strategic Energy Institute at Georgia Tech.
Title: Building the Future – U.S. PV Manufacturing
Abstract: This plenary talk will highlight the technological and strategic innovations driving solar manufacturing in the U.S. Hear firsthand how the domestic solar landscape is being transformed through vertically integrated manufacturing, including cutting-edge c-Si wafer and cell production facilities. Insights into technology selection processes and advanced equipment implementation will be shared. This talk will also address critical supply chain challenges, workforce development solutions, and advanced technology roadmaps that will shape the competitive landscape through 2026 and beyond.
Area 5: Ron Sinton, Sinton Instruments, USA
Ron Sinton did his PhD work at Stanford University, developing 28%-efficient silicon concentrator cells and 23% efficient backside-contact one-sun cells. He then continued this work by adapting the fabrication processes to be more industrial as a founding member of SunPower Corporation. Ron founded Sinton Instruments in 1992, where he is President and Senior Scientist. He has focused the company on bringing the systematic device physics approach that was used to develop very high-efficiency silicon solar cells to the design of test and measurement instruments and analysis techniques to be used industry-wide. Ron was involved in the development of many techniques that are commonly used today, such as the Suns-Voc technique and the methodology for extracting and reporting implied voltage from lifetime data. As an equipment manufacturer, Sinton Instruments closely tracks the latest developments in solar cells and modules to anticipate current and future needs of industry. Ron received the Cherry Award at the 2014 IEEE PVSC. His broader interest include ongoing participation in utility-regulatory proceedings as an expert witness advocating for the low-cost integration of renewables in Colorado, USA.Title: The Critical Role of Recombination Characterization in High-Efficiency Silicon Technologies.
Abstract: Fielding high-efficiency silicon technologies approaching the limit efficiencies requires an optimization of the silicon material and the surface passivation for the solar cell. This near-perfect optimization also needs to be stable over the useful lifetime of the modules, now exceeding 30 years. This talk will focus on the evolution of characterization techniques for recombination lifetimes that support this work as ingot dopants have changed, bulk lifetimes have approached limits, and surface passivation has improved by orders of magnitude. Over the years, cell optimization has also required debugging each degradation mechanism that has been revealed due to the innovative high-efficiency designs. Each new cell design, substrate material, or process innovation driving progress has the potential to both increase efficiencies or lower cost—but could also introduce a new degradation mechanism requiring detailed characterization, understanding, and mitigation.
Area 6: Anita Ho-Bailie, The University of Sydney, Australia
Anita Ho-Baillie FAIP FRSN FRSC, John Hooke Chair of Nanoscience at the University of Sydney, Australian Research Council 2021 Future Fellow.Title: Perovskite Multijunction Solar Cells
Abstract:Crystalline silicon solar cells dominate the photovoltaic market. The technology is mature, reliable, and low costs, driving global widespread adoption in the past decade. However, its power conversion efficiency is limited to <30% because of sub-bandgap losses when encountering low-energy photons and thermalization losses when excess photon energy is lost as heat.
Multi-junction tandem cells overcome these losses by stacking layers with different bandgaps, each optimized for a portion of the solar spectrum. Efficiency limits rise with the number of junctions, e.g., ~45% for two and ~51% for three junctions. These designs have long been used in III–V solar cells for space applications, where performance outweighs cost consideration.
Recently, organic–inorganic metal halide perovskites have emerged as promising, low-cost candidates for next-generation tandems, thanks to their rapid efficiency gains. At the University of Sydney, we explore perovskite tandem technologies, contributing to recent advances in efficiency and stability, and applications for terrestrial and space environments.
Area 7: Keith McIntosh, PV Lighthouse
Keith McIntosh is the CEO and co-founder of PV Lighthouse, a company that builds R&D software for the PV industry. He has worked in PV since 1996 and his expertise lies in the simulation and characterisation of solar cells, modules and systems. Keith has co-authored over 150 scientific articles and patents, and co-created some of the best known software in the PV industry, including SunSolve: www.sunsolve.com.Title: Yield forecasting conundrums
Abstract: The utility-scale PV industry contends with large uncertainties in its forecasts and experiments. The energy yield from a PV plant is typically predicted with an uncertainty of ±4–8%, and forecast models are not easily evaluated because measurements at test facilities have errors of, say, ±2–5%. And yet, for large power plants, even small gains in energy yield—like +0.5%—can translate into significant financial returns. These large uncertainties, combined with the importance of marginal gains, introduce a variety of conundrums. For example, how can incremental technical advances be demonstrated in the field? How should forecasting models be compared when their differences fall within experimental error? What constitutes sufficient evidence to validate a new model? How should uncertainties inform the acceptance criteria during commissioning? This talk explores these and other yield forecasting conundrums through practical examples, providing insight into how they can be addressed by experimentation and modelling.
Area 8: Alessandro Virtuani, CSEM, Switzerland
Title: Reliability Of Solar Pv Modules: Past Achievements And Modern ChallengesAbstract: This review examines the long-term reliability and performance of PV modules, highlighting the potential for modules designed with optimal durability for lifespans over 30 years. It also explores recent market trends, noting that the rapid introduction of technological innovations and design changes in the latest generation of panels may threaten their long-term reliability, risking the solar industry's established reputation. It is divided into two parts, providing insights from recent literature on the reliability of solar photovoltaic (PV) modules operating for 30+ years and exhibiting optimal long-term performance, with service lifetimes extrapolations to 40+ years. The performance of these modules is linked to their design and bill-of-material (BOM) and clearly indicate the great potential – in terms of durability – for optimally designed modules and systems.
In the second part, we review four macro-trends that presently characterize the solar PV module market (i.e. exponential growth, sharp cost decline, technology, …) and focus on the technological revolution that is characterizing the market in the last five years. However, due to the rapid introduction of these innovations in the market – deployed without a proper track record from the field – and the frequent simultaneous adoption of multiple changes in the same module design, the reliability and durability of the latest generation of solar panels are at risk. In fact, only very recently have major weaknesses and design limitations, previously supported only by anecdotal evidence, begun to be reported in the literature and properly understood. This has reached a point where some of these changes (and particularly their combinations and interdependencies) are starting to be questioned.
Area 9: Timothy Hansen, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Colorado State University
Dr. Timothy M. Hansen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU), where he has served since Fall 2025. His work addresses challenges at the intersection of power system operations and electricity markets, with a particular emphasis on integrating distributed energy resources, inverter-based generation, and stochastic renewable supply.Title: Data-Driven Modeling of Photovoltaic Solar Inverter Dynamics
Abstract: The trend in electric power systems is the displacement of traditional generation (e.g., coal, natural gas) with renewable energy resources (e.g., PV solar) and battery energy storage. These resources are interfaced to the grid through power electronics, commonly termed inverter-based resources (IBRs), which fundamentally changes voltage and frequency behavior across the system. Detailed IBR models are often proprietary, while electromagnetic transient (EMT) models are computationally expensive for large-scale studies. This presentation introduces a data-driven modeling framework that uses measured PV inverter responses to develop reduced-order dynamic representations suitable for grid-level analysis. The proposed approach enables scalable and repeatable inverter dynamic modeling without requiring access to internal control details, enabling improved assessment of IBR-dominated system performance.
Area 10: Jan Kleissl, University of California, San Diego
Jan Kleissl is a Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. Jan Kleissl is also the director of the Center for Energy Research. Dr. Kleissl’s primary research fields are solar energy meteorology and grid integration of distributed energy resources. Kleissl's solar variability models, sky imager solar forecasting tools, and numerical weather prediction solar forecasts have been commercialized or used operationally to advance solar power integration. Kleissl received an undergraduate degree from the University of Stuttgart and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins University, both in environmental engineering with a focus in environmental fluid mechanics.Kleissl has published over 150 papers in the top journals of solar energy resources, forecasting, and integration. Kleissl and his students and postdocs developed one of the first and most successful PV variability models for large solar power plants. The model has been released open source in Sandia National Lab's PV-Lib toolbox and used by 100s of researchers and practitioners globally. Kleissl also pioneered the field of sky imager forecasting and developed some of the most advanced physics-based modeling tools for sky imagery. Recently Kleissl focused on PV integration into electric distribution systems and developed optimal voltage control techniques for smart solar PV inverters through the National Science Foundation DERConnect Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure
Title: Solar power integration advances
Abstract: Various solutions to addressing the variability of solar resources and its effect on power system operation have been proposed. Solar forecasting has become an essential ingredient of power system operation in the many balancing areas with high solar power penetration. Satellite imagery plays a critical role in providing system-wide (and global) spatially and temporally resolved data for solar resource and forecasting models. The talk will review recent AI applications in satellite solar resource estimation and forecasting. Firm PV is another active research area that addresses solar resource variability. Firm PV pairs solar PV with energy storage and other generators to achieve a least-cost solution for stable / form power generation. The talk will review the latest research on firm PV. Finally, test beds are increasingly used for validating power system technologies. The talk will introduce the National Science Foundation DERConnect testbed for distributed control of distributed energy resources.
Area 11: Jihye Gwak, Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), Korea
Jihye is a research scientist with nearly 30 years of experience across industry, government, and academia, and serves as the Korea ExCo member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) Technology Collaboration Programme (TCP). She is a member of the Presidential Commission on Climate Crisis Response (formerly the Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth), as well as a non-executive director of the National Research Foundation (NRF) of Korea. She previously served on the 4th Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology (PACST) in Korea. Jihye has been with the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) since 2005. She has served as Head of the Photovoltaics Research Department and previously as Director of the Renewable Energy Institute at KIER. She has co-authored extensively in peer-reviewed journals and holds patents, and has led numerous research projects in collaboration with industry, academia, and research organizations.Title: The Impact of PV Technology on GHG Mitigation Pathways
Abstract: The newly established Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment (MCEE) in Korea now leads integrated climate and energy governance, alongside an updated 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targeting a 53–61% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 2018 levels. The government aims to expand renewable energy capacity to 100 GW by 2030, with a strong focus on solar photovoltaics (PV) and wind power. To achieve this, it is accelerating deployment through regulatory reforms, cost-reduction strategies, and power system transformation. The MCEE has launched the Tech-Driven GHG Assessment Research Consortium to establish a technology-based approach for systematically assessing renewable energy deployment potential and GHG mitigation potential across sectors. Within the renewable energy sector, particular emphasis is placed on solar PV, wind power, and energy storage systems (ESS), given their significant mitigation potential. This study presents a technology database–driven framework to evaluate PV deployment potential and its contribution to GHG mitigation in Korea under diverse technical and policy conditions. By linking technology characteristics with spatial, economic, and regulatory factors, the framework enables a comprehensive and realistic assessment of deployment feasibility. This work provides a robust analytical foundation for understanding the role of PV technologies in GHG mitigation pathways and offers actionable insights for policymakers and stakeholders to accelerate Korea’s energy transition and achieve its climate targets.