During a meeting at the 29th EU PVSEC in Amsterdam earlier today, members of the International Photovoltaic Equipment Association (IPVEA)¹ unanimously approved the association's new vision, expansion plans and associated re-branding. To reflect a new "global" strategy, IPVEA has been renamed SOLARUNITED."

According to association president Eric Ast, who also serves as senior manager of global business development at Multi-Contact, the goal is to unite the whole solar industry value chain as well as associated industries, such as energy storage, utilities and grid operators, through a collaborative approach.

Richard Moreth, head of PV sales at Vitronic, explains: “The association remains focused strongly on technology, but now -- with the involvement of key stakeholders -- we can provide more opportunity to improve quality and reliability."

This move also allows the integration of more players. “The primary benefit of the new SOLARUNITED is that it provides a non-competitive environment for all national and regional organizations that have not collaborated yet in an official way,” said Bryan Ekus, SOLARUNITED managing director. 

CSUN, a new member, is happy to be on board. “This organization unifies leaders across the solar industry and associations, and our company is proud to contribute to this important first-ever global initiative,” said Engin Yaman, CSUN’s EMEA general manager.

As a next step, SOLARUNITED will assemble strategy committees to focus on the most important issues for the solar industry with leaders and experts throughout the solar value chain. To that end, the organization welcomes the participation of additional solar companies, which can join through the recommendation of current members.

REFERENCES

1. IPVEA was established in May 2008 and is an independent, non-profit organization. The members of IPVEA promote a path of cooperation and mutual support in achieving proactive solutions between all sectors within the Solar Power Generation and Energy Storage Technology value chain.