Friday, 18 September,
08:30–09:30

Welcome to our preview of the last Plenary session EP.1 of the EU PVSEC 2026 on Friday, 18th September, titled Reliable PV Everywhere. At the end of the conference, you will be given some take-aways regarding the great achievements of PV technology, making it the reliable, affordable energy source of the future with countless applications everywhere on the globe.

The first presentation “What do PV Module Warranties Reveal about Reliability? Insights from Financial Disclosures and Independent Testing” given by Bert Herteleer of SUPSI in Switzerland digs deeply in the correlation of between independent reliability testing and Warranties. The presentation provides three perspectives on what warranty provisions do – and do not do. First, annual reports of the manufacturers are analysed seeking information on failure rates and warranty returns. Second, the presentation will give evidence that datasheet tolerances on maximum power seem to favour the sales of modules with power ratings at the lower end of datasheet tolerances, effectively reducing warranty claims. Third, we will learn that real field experience and monitoring practice reveals the underperformance compared to datasheet values which can ultimately become a warranty claim! With the increased number of aging plants, it is quite interesting how testing and certification now can be compared to financial losses - or gains. We look forward to hearing the full analysis and discussing its findings with the PV community during the conference.

Task 13 of the PVPS (PV Power Systems) Action of the IEA has attracted many contributors from all OECD countries to a collaboration focused on improving the reliability, performance, and economics of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. Ulrike Jahn of Fraunhofer-Center für Silizium Photovoltaik CSPCSP in Germany is one of the managers of this task and will bring us some highlights of the current activities in her presentation EP 1.2 “Extreme Weather, Multiple Use, Failure Modes, and Energy Security”. We will hear what provisions PV deployment must integrate to provide in extreme cold, hot and humid climates the expected lifetime and reliability. As a novelty, she will also report about the specific conditions at high latitudes, where conditions for bifacial modules are very good, but frost-resistant foundations, snow-aware layouts and adapted system engineering are needed to ensure long-term reliability. Dr. Jahn will certainly also expand on very specific requirements and failure modes of “muti-use” PV applications, such as Agri-Photovoltaics and Floating PV. PVPS Task 13 certainly is the most solid grouping which systematically collects failure modes and degradation mechanism from field experiences.

Remaining with the theme of reliability, we will learn in EP.1.3 about the growing importance of inspections on large arrays. Ioannis A. Tsanakas of CEA/INES in France has dedicated his talk “Reframing PV Inspections at Scale: Techno-Economic Benchmarking and a Roadmap for Intelligent PV O&M and Market Transformation” to the economic value of such inspections. Together with his multinational team he will make the point that these inspections are poorly structured from an economic perspective. We will see the results of a comprehensive techno-economic benchmark of PV inspection and diagnostic methods, which show that whilst inspection-level cost savings alone are modest, substantial value is unlocked when inspection data are integrated into predictive maintenance, fault prioritization, and lifetime management workflows. Certainly, they will assess the AI-potential within this approach.

The next Plenary presentations now touch upon the “Everywhere” aspect of PV. Offshore Floating photovoltaics (OFPV) is gaining attention as a mode to expand PV deployment beyond land and inland water bodies, where space and permitting constraints are increasing. But it also introduces new challenges - one is presented by Sathya Shanka Vasuki of Delft University, The Netherlands. In Europe, the Dutch are known for their skills to wrest new land from the sea, and as the title of the presentation EP.1.4. “Global Assessment of Wave-Induced Losses for Offshore Floating PV using the SWIFT Surrogate Mode” suggests, they deploy floating PV not in inland waters. As reports of wave-induced losses are not available in sufficient quantity and quality, the authors team together with experts of Shell to develop a comprehensive computer simulation model. This model is quite capable; it provides in first hand a global WIL (wave induced losses) projection for more than 240 offshore locations. We will see a presentation of the complete global WIL atlas for 20 different designs and a demonstration of the models. Recommendation maps showing which design is most suitable at each location with both annual performance and seasonal stability. We are also curious about the promised interactive demonstrations which show how stakeholders can use the tool for site selection, technology screening, or global deployment planning.

Unlike Floating PV, for Agrivoltaics the avoidance of land area is not the major driver, instead focus is on the positive effects the shading can have on the crop yield under the PV modules. In Europe, Italy, known for its sensitivity to land use and food production, had set aside the largest amount of funding €1.7 billion. for these types of PV systems within the “European Recovery and Resilience Facility (ERRF)”. Alessandra Scognamiglio of ENEA, Italy, will give us a comprehensive overview in her talk EP.1.5 “The Italian PNRR Funding Programme for Agrivoltaics: Overview, Preliminary Results and Future Perspectives”, where PNRR refers to the Italian “National Plan for Recovery and Resilience”, a requirement to access EU funding. Dr.Scognamiglio will present the intermediate results of the PNRR funded agrivoltaics’ measure in Italy, which awarded about 747 plants, for 2GW capacity of PV. She will also discuss the preliminary results and future perspectives.

As the conference comes to its end, we selected as the last presentation EP.1.6 a visionary talk, titled “From Energy Access to Green Industrialisation: PV Partnerships with Africa and the Global South”. Caroline Nijland will reflect on the role of PV and sustainable energy in Africa and the Global South, from early energy-access initiatives to today’s broader agenda of productive use. She draws on personal and professional experience across several decades, including concrete project examples and lessons learned and the presentation will discuss how renewable energy and energy access have evolved from a development-aid perspective towards more strategic cooperation between Europe and Africa. The presentation will conclude with challenging the European PV-sector on how European knowledge, technology and finance can support the African energy transition, while recognizing Africa’s strategic importance for Europe’s own energy transition.

This concludes our Previews of the Plenary talks at the 2026 EU PVSEC in Rotterdam. We believe that together with the Scientific Committee an excellent choice in the topics of importance this year has been made, and shall be presented to a wider, less specialised audience. We are looking forward to welcome you at our beautiful conference site.