FME SOLAR kick-off

The launch of the Norwegian PV Research Centre, FME SOLAR was marked by a kick-off meeting at Quality Hotel Olavsgaard on September 17th, 2024. The talks from the day gave a glimpse of the work and expectations from the centre in the years to come.

FME SOLAR - the Norwegian PV Research Centre invited to its first event, the kick-off-meeting. The day was filled with an exciting agenda with presentations, with both what to except from the new centre, as well as an insight into the work of several of the user partners.

The opening session started with a warm welcome from the FME SOLAR host, IFE's CEO Nils Morten Huseby, before the Research Council of Norway set out its expectations for the role of the research centre in the next years. Erik Marstein, centre director of FME SOLAR, then laid out an introduction to the centre, with both challenges and opportunites coming up, before presenting the entire centre management team, which span all research partners in FME SOLAR; IFE, UiA, NMBU, NTNU, SINTEF and UiO.

In the second part of the day, several user partners presented some of their work and challenges, with a view of how FME SOLAR can aid their work in the future:

Challenges and opportunities for continued growth of PV installations
Nina Lindholm, Solar project engineer, Statkraft

Hybrid PV projects – the new role of solar power
Terje Melaa, SVP Engineering & Technology, Scatec

Asset digitalization for operational excellence of PV power plants
Thomas Pettersen, VP Asset management solutions, TGS

Supporting large-scale integration of PV
Ole Jakob Sørdalen, CIO, Pixii

Norwegian production of high purity quartz for the global PV industry
Christian Hadley, The Quartz Corp.

Floating PV technology
Kristian Tørvold, CEO, Ocean Sun

Commercializing vertical PV systems for rooftops: how can FME SOLAR contribute? Sean Erik Foss, CTO, Over Easy Solar

The Norwegian PV industry
Maja Busch Sevaldsen, COO Solenergiklyngen

Thank you all for a very interesting day!