The Concentrated Photovoltaic Summit in Madrid includes a site visit to the CPV test Centre ISFOC

PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 29, 2008 – The Concentrated Photovoltaic Summit in Madrid (April 1&2) will conclude with a site visit to the test centre ISFOC in Puertollano, Spain. The site visit will be enjoyed by the delegates; who will be able to see and hear talks about the solar modules which are currently on the ground, including Solfocus, Isofotón and Concentrix.

Among the delegates to the conference there are 120+ companies including Abengoa, Credit Suisse, Emcore, JX Crystals, Schott, SENER, Solel, Solar Systems and Spectrolab.

Pedro Banda, Director of ISFOC and speaker at the summit said “ISFOC is the Institute of Concentration Photovoltaics and it was incorporated in August 2006. It is the result of an R&D plan commissioned to the Institute of Solar Energy of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid by the Department of Education of the Government of Castilla La Mancha in Spain. The project is funded through a Technology loan from the Department of Education of the Spanish Government”

The ISFOC’s main goal is to become a reference point for reliable information for the CPV industry worldwide – in terms of productivity. Further than that, they aim to train experts capable of promoting high level research and industrial development.

Currently, 3MW in total have been awarded and are under construction. So far, the first 1.7MW will be finished by the end of June this year and the remaining 1.3MW will be commissioned in early 2009. Besides Solfocus, Concentrix and Isfotón, the centre will have modules from Emcore, ArimaEco, Concentración Solar La Mancha and Sol3g

Mr Banda continues “ISFOC is already helping the early stage growth of CPV industry. It is being done mainly through our involvement in reliability tests and standard definition, through current installations which are the first in the world at this scale and through the dissemination of the technology at international level”

When asked about the future of CPV, Pedro Banda sent a clear message “CPV is to become a very competitive technology and will quickly bring quality and reliable products into the market. Predictions of less than 3€/W at system level are likely to become effective in 2010, which will bring solar electricity prices closer to the 0.1€/kWhr target”

“CPV is as an industry on the brink of commercialisation, it deserves a space in its own right within the PV industry” Belén Gallego, the director of CPV Today- organisers of the event- “Me and the attendees to the conference are thrilled to visit ISFOC, as this event is a milestone for the industry and it will mark the beginning of a new era for CPV”

For more information on the Concentrated Photovoltaic Summit in Madrid (April 1-2) and to check the full list of attendees, speakers and agenda please go to www.cpvtoday.com