I have the great pleasure to invite you to the 9th SiliconPV conference on April 8-11, 2019, taking place in Leuven, Belgium.

Thinking back about the 2nd edition of SiliconPV in Leuven in April 2012, SiliconPV has since been able to take a unique position in the plethora of yearly PV-conferences. It has established itself as the Conference where in-depth new scientific insights and reviews in crystalline Si-based PV are combined with presentations on high-performance devices based on technological excellence. This was exactly the mission that the founders of the Conference in 2011 had in mind: the SiliconPV Conference should be the place where young researchers acquire in a few days a wealth of information and understanding on what still is and will remain the main workhorse of the photovoltaic sector for the next decennium, combining cost-effectiveness and high performance. In line with this objective, we invite the SiliconPV Community to submit the latest results of their scientific and technology work to share it with their colleagues during SiliconPV 2019. The R&D-topics of interest are in line with the previous years, ranging from material aspects to modules, including the rapidly increasing activity on tandem approaches, where a high-bandgap partner is integrated above a Si bottomcell to achieve conversion efficiencies beyond the limits of single-junction Si cells.

As in the last years, the nPV workshop will take place successively to the SiliconPV conference with one overlapping day and a joint conference dinner. These two events are completely complementary and allow researchers and engineers to get a complete overview of all trends, innovations and developments of crystalline silicon technology, both at the R&D and industrial level.

The 2019 edition is hosted by imec and will be held in Leuven, which is located only 20 km from Brussels in the heart of Belgium and can be easily reached by train. Leuven is known for its university – it is one of the oldest universities in the world but at the same time one of the most innovative when looking to international rankings – and as the headquarter of the biggest brewery in the world (InBev). The highly visible presence of more than 25000 university students on a total population in the order of 100000 inhabitants creates a highly attractive atmosphere and ecosystem in the city and makes it a unique location for the SiliconPV Conference aiming at an audience of young researchers mixed with highly experienced leaders from R&D and industry. The PV-module session of SiliconPV on Tuesday afternoon will be done in Genk, where imec in the frame of the EnergyVille-collaboration has set up a new lab of nearly 2000 m2 with state-of-the art infrastructure for research amongst others on PV-modules, PV-system and storage. During this afternoon session, time will be foreseen to allow the SiliconPV attendants to visit these brand-new facilities.

I am sure that you will enjoy SiliconPV 2019 in Leuven where the presence of University and Top R&D-Institutes enables an exciting combination of scientifc exchange and pleasure of life and I am happy to invite you to participate in the 9th SiliconPV conference.

Conference Chairman SiliconPV 2019

Prof. Jef Poortmans

Program Director PV at IMEC, Leuven