The Solar World Congress 2019, held for the first time in South America and organized by the International Solar Energy Society (ISES), with the support of the Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (SHC), the Centro Fondap-Conicyt SERC Chile - as local organizer -, with the support of the Comité Solar de Corfo and the Ministry of Energy, was inaugurated in Santiago on Monday 4, with the presence of the ministers of Energy, Juan Carlos Jobet, and Science and Technology, Andrés Couve.

 

In this context, the Minister of Energy stressed that "we are aware of the challenges we have as a country in the development of renewable energy and we bet on energy innovation to advance in cleaner energy," said the minister.

 

For his part, Minister Couve said that climate change, which forces this energy transformation, presents the country with the challenge of asking itself how to approach the problem from a scientific standpoint, adding that "we have to increase research and integrate energy innovation as part of the whole ecosystem of knowledge development".

 

The executive director of the Corfo Solar Committee, Max Correa, emphasized that the success of renewable energies lies in multisectorial involvement, with important participation "from the public and private sectors, plus academia".

 

The organizers highlighted the role of our country in the development of solar energy. The president of ISES, Dave Renné, highlighted that "Chile is one of the countries that has the best natural resources for solar energy". And Daniel Mugnier, from SHC, said that "this meeting is extremely useful for Chile because of its scientific and natural potential.

 

José Miguel Cardemil, the scientific chairman of the Solar World Congress and SERC Chile researcher, highlighted the importance of holding the Solar Word Congress as an instance for "people to meet, talk and debate about the challenges that solar energy has to become the main source of energy on the planet.

 

 

Fraunhofer and Solar Energy

 

Demonstrating Fraunhofer's worldwide expertise in solar energy issues, the organization presented itself at this congress with a delegation of scientists from its Solar Energy Institute (Fraunoher ISE - Germany) and its Center for Solar Energy Technologies (FCR CSET - Chile), experts who showed outstanding participation in the various instances.

 

At the local level, the Chilean delegation was composed by the Director of CSET Frank Dinter, Dr. Mercedes Ibarra - Leader of the Solar Thermal Systems Group -, the researchers Catalina Hernández, Constanza Muñoz, Iván Muñoz, María Teresa Cerda, Andreas Staiger, Alois Salmon, Marco Vaccarezza and Patricia Gese.  The Fraunhofer ISE delegation consisted of researchers Karl-Anders Weiß, Korbinian Krammer, Elisabeth Klimm, Dr. Christopher Voglstätter, Dr. Korbinian Kramer, Francisco Torres, Werner Platzer and Stefan Hess (representing the University of Freiburg).

 

Dr. Frank Dinter highlighted the possibilities that the meeting opens for the exchange of knowledge and the creation of international networks in the area, strengthening the leadership of our country in the research and development of solar technologies given its undeniable competitive advantages in the international context. Similarly, Dr. Karl-Anders Weiß valued that "the congress showed once again the enormous potential of solar energy in Chile, but also showed the very specific conditions of the country. This includes effects such as very strong and intense UV irradiation, dirt and corrosive charges, which are accompanied by the great potential of solar energy and which depend on the specific location in Chile. These conditions must be taken into account when planning and installing solar power plants, regardless of whether they are photovoltaic, solar thermal or low temperatura”.

 

The Solar World Congress brings together around 400 scientists, academics and industry representatives, who discuss technologies and applications for solar heating and cooling; solar electricity; building integration; solar resource assessment and energy storage methodologies. It also offers exchange spaces to analyze training programs for technicians and professionals in specific areas of solar energy.