Many countries in the world have announced massive expansion plans of their PV capacity targets, sparking concerns whether there is sufficient space available and/or whether there are sacrifices to be made between PV deployment and land that is currently used for other purposes such as agriculture. One of the plenary talks at the 8th World Conference for PV Energy Conversion (WCPEC-8) in September 2022 in Milano showed that “Integrated PV” (IPV) solutions on buildings, water bodies (inland and marine waters) and agricultural land alone could provide sufficient space even for the extreme scenario of a future all-electric world that would require ~60 TWp of PV capacity. Therefore, IPV technologies have a huge upside potential, especially in countries where most of the prime land has already been used for PV installations (hence discussions about competing uses of land have started), and where land is scarce or expensive.

Based on the highly successful 1st IPV Workshop in 2022, the 2nd edition will focus on latest innovations that will help shaping this new but fast-growing segment within the solar PV industry. Technologies include Building-integrated PV (BIPV), Floating PV, Agrivoltaics, and Vehicle-integrated PV (VIPV). The healthy mix of speakers from industry and academia will allow to develop a holistic view of the various IPV technologies, covering today’s state of the art, latest trends and further R&D needs. Aim of the workshop is to create a better understanding of the various IPV technologies, their potential, and their inter-disciplinary synergies, but also to raise awareness of “non-technical” matters which have already surfaced in some countries; those include, for example, legal issues, regulatory hurdles and environmental & social acceptance.

Integrated PV will be the “Next Big Thing” in solar!