Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC)

Status| Active
Frequency| Annual
Years active| 64
Founded| April 14, 1964; 61 years ago (1964-04-14) in Washington, D.C., United States
Most recent| PVSC 52
Next event| PVSC 53
Participants| 1800[1]
Area| Photovoltaics
Sponsors| IEEE Photonics Society
IEEE Electron Devices Society
Website| Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

The IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (also called PVSC[2]) is the longest running technical conference dedicated to photovoltaics, solar cells, and solar power. The first PVSC was in 1961 at the NASA headquarters in Washington DC. The number of conference areas have expanded and now include PV reliability and solar resource. The conference has also had many diverse and distinguished keynote speakers like Sarah Kurtz who won the conference's William Cherry Award in 2012.[3] PVSC is also where the most notable breakthroughs in PV are often first announced, such as record Solar-cell efficiency,[4] new technologies like perovskite, TOPCon, heterojunction (HJT), and tandem cells, derivation of new algorithms, and discoveries of new phenomena such as Potential-induced degradation and light and elevated temperature induced degradation (LeTID).

PVSC is one of the three hosts of the quadrennial World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC), along with the International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference (PVSEC) on the Asia-Pacific side and European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) on the European side.[5]

## William R. Cherry Award

[edit]

PVSC honors scientists and researchers who have made significant contributions to the field of photovoltaics since 1980. Notable recipients include Joseph J. Loferski in 1981,[6] Martin Green in 1990, Richard Swanson in 2002, Stuart Wenham in 2009, and Professor Harry Atwater in 2019.[7]

## Women in PV Lunch

[edit]

For at least the past ten years, PVSC has held a luncheon with speakers who have recognized the significant contribution of women in photovoltaics.[8]

## Middle and high school competition

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For over 20 years, PVSC has inspired high school youth to engage with scientists, explore and present their concepts at the conference, and compete to win prizes.[9] Starting in 2020, the competition was expanded to include middle school students. The format was changed to encourage more creativity by asking students to write about how solar energy will change the future in the "Solar Future Narratives" competition, and to pitch solar energy projects that could positively impact their communities in the "Solar Energy Video Pitch" competition.

## Location history

[edit]

PVSC #  | Year  | Location  | Chair  | Cherry Award

|
|
|
|

PVSC-1  | 1961  | Washington, DC |  |
PVSC-2  | 1962  | Washington, DC  | Walter C. Scott  |
PVSC-3  | 1963  | Washington, DC  | Walter C. Scott  |
PVSC-4  | 1964  | Cleveland, OH |  |
PVSC-5  | 1965  | Greenbelt, MD | Paul Rappaport  |
PVSC-6  | 1967  | Cocoa Beach, FL | William R. Cherry  |
PVSC-7  | 1968  | Pasadena, CA | Robert E. Fischell  |
PVSC-8  | 1970  | Seattle, WA | Joseph J. Loferski |
PVSC-9  | 1972  | Silver Springs, MD | Martin Wolf  |
PVSC-10  | 1973  | Palo Alto, CA | Richard L. Statler  |
PVSC-11  | 1975  | Scottsdale, AZ | Denis R. Curtin  |
PVSC-12  | 1976  | Baton Rouge, LA | Americo F. Forestieri  |
PVSC-13  | 1978  | Washington, DC  | John V. Goldsmith  |
PVSC-14  | 1980  | San Diego, CA | Charles E. Backus  | Paul Rappaport
PVSC-15  | 1981  | Kissimmee, FL | Charles J. Bishop  | Joseph J. Loferski
PVSC-16  | 1982  | San Diego, CA  | Henry W. Brandhorst, Jr.  | Martin Wolf
PVSC-17  | 1984  | Kissimmee, FL  | Eugene L. Ralph  | Henry W. Brandhorst
PVSC-18  | 1985  | Las Vegas, NV | Allen M. Barnett | Eugene L. Ralph
PVSC-19  | 1987  | New Orleans, LA | Lawrence L. Kazmerski  | Charles E. Backus
PVSC-20  | 1988  | Las Vegas, NV  | Joseph F. Wise  | David E. Carlson
PVSC-21  | 1990  | Kissimmee, FL  | John D. Meakin  | Martin A. Green
PVSC-22  | 1991  | Las Vegas, NV  | Cosmo R. Barona  | Peter A. Iles
PVSC-23  | 1993  | Louisville, KY | Richard J. Schwartz  | Lawrence L. Kazmerski
PVSC-24 (WCPEC-1)  | 1994  | Waikoloa Village, HI (1st World Conference)  | Dennis J. Flood (General Chair), Jurgen Schmid and Masafumi Yamaguchi (Vice Chairs)  | Yoshihiro Hamakawa
PVSC-25  | 1996  | Washington, DC  | Eldon C. Boes  | Allen M. Barnett
PVSC-26  | 1997  | Anaheim, CA | Paul Basore  | Adolf Goetzberger
PVSC-27 (WCPEC-2)  | 1998  | Vienna, Austria (2nd World Conference)  | Jurgen Schmid (General Chair), Kosuke Kurokawa and Sheila G. Bailey (Vice Chairs)  | Richard J. Schwartz
PVSC-28  | 2000  | Anchorage, AK | Ajeet Rohatgi  | Christopher R. Wronski
PVSC-29  | 2002  | New Orleans, LA  | John Benner  | Richard Swanson
PVSC-30 (WCPEC-3)  | 2003  | Osaka, Japan (3rd World Conference)  | Kosuke Kurokawa (General Chair), Lawrence L. Kazmerski and Bernard McNelis (Vice Chairs)  | Ajeet Rohatgi
PVSC-31  | 2005  | Lake Buena Vista, FL | Christopher R. Wronski  | Timothy J. Coutts
PVSC-32 (WCPEC-4)  | 2006  | Waikoloa Village, HI (4th World Conference)  | Sheila Bailey (General Chair), Heinz Ossenbrink and Makoto Konagai (Vice Chairs)  | Antonio Luque
PVSC-33  | 2008  | San Diego, CA  | Timothy J. Coutts  | Masafumi Yamaguchi
PVSC-34  | 2009  | Philadelphia, PA | Tim Anderson  | Stuart Wenham
PVSC-35  | 2010  | Honolulu, HI | Robert Walters  | Richard R. King
PVSC-36 (WCPEC-5)  | 2010  | Valencia, Spain (5th World Conference)  | Giovanni De Santi (General Chair), Makoto Konagai and Robert Walters (Vice Chairs)  |
PVSC-37 | 2011  | Seattle, WA  | David Wilt  | Jerry M. Olson
PVSC-38 | 2012  | Austin, TX | B.J. Stanbery  | Sarah Kurtz
PVSC-39 | 2013  | Tampa, FL | Ryne Rafaelle  | Keith Emery
PVSC-40 | 2014  | Denver, CO | Richard R. King  | Ronald A. Sinton
PVSC-41 (WCPEC-6) | 2014  | Kyoto, Japan (6th World Conference)  | Makoto Konagai (General Chair), A. Jager Waldau and B.J. Stanbery (Vice Chairs)  |
PVSC-42 | 2015  | New Orleans, LA  | Steven A. Ringel  | Christiana Honsberg
PVSC-43 | 2016  | Portland, OR | Angus Rockett  | Pierre Verlinden
PVSC-44 | 2017  | Washington, DC  | Angèle Reinders  | Eli Yablonovitch
PVSC-45 (WCPEC-7)  | 2018  | Waikoloa Village, HI (7th World Conference)  | Alex Freundlich (General Chair), Marko Topič and Akira Yamada (Vice Chairs)  | Vasilis Fthenakis
PVSC-46 | 2019  | Chicago, IL | Sarah Kurtz  | Harry Atwater
PVSC-47 | 2020  | Virtual (COVID-19)  | Seth Hubbard  | James Sites
PVSC-48 | 2021  | Virtual (COVID-19)  | Sylvain Marsillac  | Thorsten Trupke
PVSC-49 | 2022  | Philadelphia, PA  | Bill Shafarman  | Stephen R. Forrest
PVSC-50 | 2023  | San Juan, PR | Mariana Bertoni  | Jenny Nelson
PVSC-51 (WCPEC-8)  | 2022  | Milan, Italy | Alessandra Scognamiglio (General Chair), Yuzuru Ueda and Seth Hubbard (Vice Chairs)  |
PVSC-52 | 2024  | Seattle, WA  | Arno Smets  | Chris Xixiang Xu
PVSC-53 | 2025  | Montreal, Canada (7th World Conference)  | Tyler Grassman  |

## References

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1. ^ PVSC (2009). "PVSC > Home". IEEE PVSC. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
2. ^ Zipp, Kathie (2013). "4 Questions: 39th Solar IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference". Solar Power World. WTWH Media, LLC. Retrieved 23 Nov 2021.
3. ^ Trabish, Herman (2013). "Solar's Past, Present, and Future at PVSC". Greentech Media. Retrieved 23 Nov 2021.
4. ^ Solomon, Erica (29 August 2016). "New solar cell is more efficient, costs less than its counterparts". MIT News. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
5. ^ "About". wcpec-8.com. WCPEC-8. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
6. ^ Hilchey, Tim (23 January 1997). "Joseph J. Loferski, Pioneer in Development of Solar Cells, Dies at 71". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
7. ^ Johnson, Abigail (2019). "Professor Harry Atwater Wins 2019 IEEE William Cherry Award". Business Wire. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
8. ^ Warren, E. L. (2020). "The value of diversity in the renewable energy industry and research community". 2020 47th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC). pp. 0652–0654\. doi:10.1109/PVSC45281.2020.9300582. ISBN 978-1-7281-6115-0. S2CID 230997583.
9. ^ Wirtanen, Erik (17 July 2019). "Lighting the way for future photovoltaics innovators". ASU News. Retrieved 7 March 2023.

## Further reading

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* www.pv-magazine.com/press-releases/keynote-speaker-selected-for-39th-ieee-photovoltaic-specialists-conference_100011234/
* www.pv-magazine.com/press-releases/call-for-papers-and-registration-open-for-39th-ieee-photovoltaic-specialists-conference_10009871/
* www.pv-magazine.com/press-releases/pvd-is-the-key-von-ardenne-presents-coating-solutions-for-heterojunction-topcon-and-tandem-cells-in-milan/
* https://solarindustrymag.com/ieee-photovoltaic-specialists-conference-calls-for-papers
* https://www.pv-tech.org/tracker-terrain-loss-the-elephant-in-the-room-and-the-low-hanging-fruit/