The European PV Solar Energy Conference in Paris in June 2004 provided a useful forum for IEA PVPS to meet with its stakeholders.

Task 1 (Information Exchange) hosted a half-day industry workshop to report on PVPS’s market, policy and production analysis activities and to allow a number of other international groups to present recent roadmapping activities. The industry presentations highlighted a broad degree of commonality between regional industry development strategies and some common development needs such as stronger analysis of health and safety and broader lifecycle issues. EPIA, the European PV Industry Association, expressed its keen intent to collaborate more closely with IEA PVPS during the workshop. This has subsequently been consolidated by positive and constructive discussions between EPIA and the PVPS Executive Committee.

Task 9 (PV Services for Developing Countries – PVSDC) also utilized the Conference as an opportunity to hold a half day workshop for French industry and agencies at the Direction des Relations Economiques Exterieures (DREE) of the French Ministry of Finance. Amongst a number of points raised during the discussions, it was noted that regional, national and local individualities require project developers to be flexible and inventive in finding suitable solutions for PV energy services delivery. Establishing the right institutional and regulatory frameworks were highlighted as crucial to the success of a rural electrification project, though the time and energy needed to achieve this has been underestimated in the past. The discussions also noted that large-scale, profitable business opportunities in Europe and Japan are causing a scarcity of panels, leading to higher costs and reduced interest for the developing country markets.

Presentations from both workshops can be downloaded from this website:

• Presentations Task 1 workshop: IEA PVPS meets with industry - Responding to the challenges of the expanding global demand for photovoltaics, 9 June 2004, Paris, France

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