Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

The IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (also called PVSC ) 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. PVSC is also where the most notable breakthroughs in PV are often first announced, such as record Solar-cell efficiency, 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.

William R. Cherry Award
PVSC honors scientists and researchers who have made significant contributions to the field of photovoltaics since 1980. Significant recipients are Joseph J. Loferski in 1981, Martin Green in 1990, Richard Swanson in 2002, Stuart Wenham in 2009, and Professor Harry Atwater in 2019.

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

Middle and high school competition
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. 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.

Additional Reading

 * 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/