By Kari Williamson

“We are very pleased to be able to offer this opportunity to the PV community,” says Philippe Malbranche Co-ordinator of the project through which funding will be provided (SOPHIA).

“The EC is going to cover the costs of a team from one country using facilities based in one or more other countries providing that results are shared with the owner of the facility/ies and, if interesting, published.”

Team members can come from different European countries, but the team leader and a majority of the team members should not be from the country where the solar PV research facility they wish to use is located.

Costs related to transport, accommodation and help in using the solar PV equipment will also be covered by the EC through the project.

Malbranche adds: “A typical project might be a team of one SME and one local research organisation using a specific cell processing facility and the associated characterisation equipment over a period of 10 days. Other examples might be to conduct a long-term comparison of the performance of PV modules, BIPV or CPV systems or to use a supercomputing facility for advanced modelling. We are open to all kinds of relevant proposals.”