FME SOLAR - Norwegian PV research centre

FME SOLAR has been operational for a little more than a year and the activity is well underway. R&D in all work packages has been initiated and the first batch of PhD candidates has been recruited. FME SOLAR has also educated its first batch of MSc candidates with thesises spanning the breadth of the centre activities. FME SOLAR has spent considerable time and effort to establish routines for internal and external communication. In addition to the webisite www.fmesolar.no, the first issues of the FME SOLAR Newsletter have been circulated. FME SOLAR has arranged workshops for scientific discussions and webinars for disseminating its results to its partners and beyond. In addition to its own webinar series, FME SOLAR has teamed up with FME BATTERY and Renewables Norway and established a highly successful webinar series addressing PV + Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). The research in the centre has already resulted in a few publised papers. In addition come several highly profiled presentations at international conferences. A highlight in this context is the participation at this year's EU PVSEC conference with one plenary, three oral and one award-winning poster presentation from FME SOLAR. The centre also hosted this year's Norwegian Solar Cell Conferenec. FME SOLAR is well underway!

FME SOLAR is a national research centre with more than 50 partners joining excellent R&D institutions with innovative user partners responsible for the majority of industrial activity, exports and turnover in our PV industry. • FME SOLAR builds on the strong track record and experience of its partners to become an engine for innovation and value creation across the broad PV industrial value chains in Norway. • FME SOLAR will develop competence and skills enabling rapid and robust upscaling of PV, contributing to increased volumes of renewable electricity with low climate gas emissions in Norway and abroad. • FME SOLAR focuses on some of the most urgent challenges in PV technology and industry and has sufficient volume to enable the centre partners to move the frontiers of international R&D in PV. • FME SOLAR includes mechanisms supporting impact through dissemination, education and innovation for society, the public sector, and the industry, vital to adapt to the rapidly changing of PV worldwide, especially in Norway. The long-term goal of FME SOLAR is to supply coordinated R&D and education in prioritized topics to enable industry, the public sector and Norwegian society to exploit the large opportunities for innovation and value creation, face the main identified challenges and de-risk the anticipated step change in investments resulting from the targeted large growth in the use of PV power plants both in Norway and worldwide. The R&D in FME SOLAR is performed in 6 scientific work packages. These are: WP1: PV power plants WP2: PV in Nordic conditions WP3: Grid integration of PV power plants WP4: Production and recycling of PV materials WP5: Application-specific PV systems and components WP6: Beyond the horizon In addition, education, competence building and researcher training and exchange with user partners is dedicated a separate work package, WP7: Education and training.