PVSEC-30 & GPVC 2020

Plenary & Keynote Speakers

Plenary Speakers
* Last name alphabetical order

Dr. Jian Ding
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- Plenary Speaker
- Dr. Jian Ding
- Advanced Thin Film PV Technologies and Applications
- Biography
  Jian has more thirty years of experience in the fields of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, process technology, and advanced solar technologies. He was a Senior Vice President of Hanergy Thin Film Power Group, his responsibilities include the head of Hanergy PV technical committee, and CEO of Alta Devices Inc., in Sunnyvale, California. Prior to joining Hanergy, he was the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Astronergy, a solar manufacturing company, as well as the general manager of thin-film business unit. Before that, Jian was the Vice President of Global Technology and Applications for MKS Instruments. MKS is a global provider of instruments, subsystems and process control solutions that measure, control, power, monitor, and analyze critical parameters of advanced manufacturing processes to improve process performance and productivity.
  
  Jian also served as the Vice President for three years at North Microelectronics Company, and a total of fifteen years at Applied Materials in a variety of technical and business management roles culminating as a general manager with P&L responsibility. Jian Ding received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, China, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. Michael Graetzel École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
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- Plenary Speaker
- Dr. Michael Graetzel
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)
- THE GENESIS AND STUNNING RISE OF PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELLS
- Biography
  Michael Graetzel is a Professor at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where he directs the laboratory of photonics and interfaces. He received his PhD from the Technical University in Berlin in 1971. After a postdoctoral training at the University of Notre Dame, USA, and his habilitation at the Free University Berlin he joined EPFL since 1977. He pioneered research on energy and electron transfer reactions in mesoscopic systems and their use to generate electricity and fuels from sunlight. He is credited with moving the solar cell field beyond the principle of light absorption via diodes to the molecular level exploiting the sensitization of 3-dimensional networks of semiconductor oxide nanoparticles by dyes, pigments or quantum dots for light energy harvesting. His dye-sensitized solar cells engendered the advent of perovskite solar cells, constituting the most exciting break-through in the recent history of photovoltaics. His many honors and awards include the August Wilhelm von Hofmann Medal, the Global Energy Prize, the RussNano Award, the Zewail Prize for Molecular Science, the Global Energy Prize, the Millennium Technology Grand Prize, the Marcel Benoist Prize, the King Faisal International Science Prize, the Albert Einstein World Award of Science, the Paracelsus Medal of the Swiss Chemical Society, the Paul Karrer Gold Medal and the Balzan Prize. He is an elected member of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences, the Leopoldina and other learned societies and holds eleven honorary doctor’s degrees from European and Asian Universities. His publications received over 313’000 citations, h = 250 (Web of Science). A recent ranking by Stanford University places Graetzel in the first position on top of a list of 100’000 world-wide leading scientists across all fields.
Dr. Yongfang Li University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
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- Plenary Speaker
- Dr. Yongfang Li
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
- RECENT RESEARCH PROGRESS OF POLYMER SOLAR CELLS
- Biography
  
  Education
  Master's degree was obtained in 1982 in Chemistry Department, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China. Physical Chemistry Specialty
  Ph.D. degree was obtained in 1986 in Chemistry Department, Fudan University. Shanghai 200433, China. Physical Chemistry Specialty (Electrochemistry).
  Research Career
  2013.11, Elected as a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
  2012.12- present, Professor of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
  1997.6-1998.6, Visiting Scientist, Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids, UCSB, USA.
  1988.10.-1991.4., Visiting scholar, Institute for Molecular Science (IMS), Okazaki, Japan.
  1988.9-present, staff of ICCAS, Beijing 100190, China. 1993.- present, Professor.
  1986.8-1988.8, Postdoctoral fellow in Institute of Chemistry, CAS (ICCAS), Beijing 100190, China.
  Recent Awards
  2018, the Second-Grade National Award of China on Natural Sciences, for the contribution in “Photovoltaic materials of the conjugated polymer donors with conjugated side chains and indene-fullerene bisadduct acceptors”
  2012, “Macro2012 Lecture Award” by PMSE of ACS (American Chemical Society).
  2005, the First-Grade Award of Beijing City on Science and Technology, for the contribution in “The studies on the electrochemistry of conducting polymers and polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells”
  Present research interests
  Polymer solar cells and related photovoltaic materials.
Dr. Shigeru Niki New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
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- Plenary Speaker
- Dr. Shigeru Niki
- New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
- Future prospects of next-generation PV technology
- Biography
  
  Education:
  1991 Ph. D in Electrical Engineering (Applied Physics) University of California, San Diego
  Professional Career:
  2019-Present Director General, Renewable Energy Unit, Technology Strategy Center, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO)
  2017- 2019 Assistant Director General, Department of Energy and Environment, AIST
  2015- 2017 Director, Renewable Energy Research Center
  2013- 2015 Director, Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies
  2011- 2013 Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies founded Deputy Director, Research Center for Photovoltaic Technologies
  2004-2011 Research Center for Photovoltaics founded Deputy Director, Research Center for Photovoltaics
  2001 Electrotechnical Laboratory reorganized to AIS Team Leader, Photonics Research Institute
  1991 Joined Electrotechnical Laboratory
  Major Research Topics:
  Photovoltaics (CIGS, CZTS, c-Si, etc.), wind power, geothermal, marine energy, shallow geothermal and hydrogeology, hydrogen energy carrier, bio-jet fuel, energy network, etc.,
Dr. Stefan Nowak NET Nowak Energy & Technology Ltd.
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- Plenary Speaker
- Dr. Stefan Nowak
- NET Nowak Energy & Technology Ltd.
- PV in the Future Energy System – Latest Results and Insights by the IEA PVPS Programme
- Biography
  Stefan Nowak is an experimental physicist by training with a PhD from Fribourg University and EPFL, Switzerland. His academic research activities covered thermonuclear fusion, plasma and surface physics as well as thin films. His biography is characterised by a continuous evolution from research to technology management involving aspects of advanced research in different areas of energy, materials and processing. He has a broad technological expertise with complementary experience in communication, technology management and policy. Stefan has been working in renewable energy and energy efficiency for more than 25 years with a particular focus and expertise in photovoltaic (PV) solar electricity. Covering the full PV value chain from research to the market, including policy and communication, he is an expert and advisor to many different national and international organisations. In 1997, he founded NET Nowak Energy & Technology Ltd., a consultancy specialized in renewable energy, energy and resource efficiency. From 1993 to 2018, Stefan served as a programme manager for the Swiss PV RTD programme. He is coordinator of various PV related EU projects with more than 20 EU ministries and agencies (http://www.solar-era.net) and serves as chairman of the International Energy Agency’s photovoltaic technology cooperation programme (IEA PVPS TCP, http://www.iea-pvps.org), one of the largest of its kind within the IEA. The responsibility for this programme since 2001 has led to a large network, numerous contacts, experiences and travels related to PV technology and deployment in all 5 continents.
Dr. Noritaka Usami Nagoya University
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- Plenary Speaker
- Dr. Noritaka Usami
- Nagoya University
- Materials and process informatics for research on photovoltaics
- Biography
  
  Professional Career
  2013- Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University
  2018-2020 Senior Science and Technology Policy Fellow, Council for Science, Technology, and Innovation, Cabinet Office, Government of Japan
  2000-2013 Associate Professor, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University
  1998-1999 Visiting Researcher, Institüt für Angewandte Photophysik, Technische Universität Dresden
  1994-2000 Research Associate, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo
  1993-1994 Junior Scientist of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
  Education
  D.E. 1998 The University of Tokyo
  M.E. 1993 The University of Tokyo
  B.E. 1991 The University of Tokyo
  Awards
  2018 SiliconPV Award
  2017 Innovative PV award, JSPS 175th committee
  2012 Best poster award, the 38th IEEE PVSC
  2009 The best paper award, PVSEC-19
  2008 Intelligent Cosmos Award
  2000 Ando Incentive Prize for the Study of Electronics
  1993 Young Researcher Award of Solid State Devices and Material
Dr. Ralf B. Wehrspohn Fraunhofer Institute
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- Plenary Speaker
- Dr. Ralf B. Wehrspohn
- Fraunhofer Institute
- TOWARDS A GLOBAL HYDROGEN ECONOMY
- Biography
  
  Academic and Professional Career
  Since 10/2019 Executive Vice President of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V., Technology Marketing and Business Models
  2018–2019 Head of Fraunhofer Group for Materials and Components – MATERIALS
  Since 2006 W3 professor for experimental physics at the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg, chair of Microstructure-based Materials Design
  2006–2019 Institute director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems, Halle
  2003–2006 C4 professor for experimental physics at the University of Paderborn, chair of Nanophotonic Materials
  1999–2003 Leader of a junior research group at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle in the field of the application of porous materials
  1998–1999 Research assistant at the Philips Research Laboratories, Redhill, England. Research in the field of thin film technologies, i.a. flat panel displays
  1995–1997 Doctoral candidate at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and at the École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
  1990–1995 Studies of physics at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and the École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France
  Awards/Honors
  2004 One of the 101 most important minds in Germany awarded by Financial Times Deutschland
  2003 TR100 young innovators award of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  2003 Heinz Maier Leibnitz Prize of the German Science Foundation (DFG)
  2002 Innovations award of Dow Chemical Deutschland

Keynote Speakers
* Last name alphabetical order

Dr. Christian Breyer Lappeenranta University of Technology
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Christian Breyer
- Lappeenranta University of Technology
- (Title: To be announced.)
- Biography
  
  Christian Breyer is Professor for Solar Economy at LUT University, Finland. His major expertise is the integrated research of technological and economic characteristics of renewable energy systems specializing in energy system modeling for 100% renewable energy, on a local but also global scale. His team published the most studies on 100% renewable energy for countries or major regions globally. Energy system transition studies are carried out in full hourly and high geo-spatial resolution. Publications cover integrated sector analyses with power, heat, transport, desalination, industry and negative CO₂ emission options. Carbon capture and utilisation as part of comprehensive Power-to-X investigations is a core research field for his team. He published more than 250 scientific papers, thereof more than 100 in scientific journals. He worked previously for Reiner Lemoine Institut, Berlin, and Q-Cells (now: Hanwha Q Cells). He is member of ETIP PV, IEA-PVPS, scientific committee of the EU PVSEC and IRES, scientific advisory board of CO₂ Value Europe, chairman for renewable energy at the Energy Watch Group, reviewer for the IPCC and a co-founder of the Desertec Foundation. His academic background is general business, physics and energy systems engineering and a PhD in electrical engineering. He communicates in Twitter @ChristianOnRE.
Dr. Ralph Gottschalg Faunhofer CSP Lab
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Ralph Gottschalg
- Faunhofer CSP Lab
- QUALITY ASSURANCE IN PV – REDUCING LCOE BY MINIMISING AVOIDABLE FAILURES.
- Biography
  
  Education
  2001 Ph.D. Viva
  1996-200 Ph.D. Loughborough University, Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST), UK
  1994-1995 M.S. Loughborough University, Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST), UK
  1990-1999 Diplom, University Fridericiana, Karlsruhe, Germany
  
  Professional Career
  2018 – present Director Fraunhofer-Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP, Department Reliability and Technology for Grid Parity, Germany
  Professor of Photovoltaic Energy Systems at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences, Köthen, German
  2004-2018 Professor of Applied Photovoltaics at the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST), Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University, UK
  2004-2009 Advanced Research Fellow, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EPSRC, UK
  2000-2004 Researcher at the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST), Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University, UK
  1996-2000 Part Time Researcher at the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST), Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Loughborough University, UK
  1995-1996 Research Engineer, Energy Research Group, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe, Germany
Dr. Sarah Kurtz University of California Merced
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Sarah Kurtz
- University of California Merced
- ADVANCEMENT OF SOLAR IN CALIFORNIA
- Biography
  
  Previous Responsibilities at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
  2015 – 2017, PV Program Manager
  2015 – 2017, NCPV Co-Director
  2014 – Current, Research Fellow
  2007 – 2017, Group Manager of the Reliability and Test Evaluation Group,
  1999 – 2007, Group Manager of III-V Group
  1986 – 1999, Staff, Senior, and Career Scientist (III-V research)
  1985 – 1986, Post-doc (amorphous silicon research)
  Education
  Ph.D. Chemical Physics, 1985, Harvard University
  B.A. Chemistry and Physics, 1979, Manchester College
  Selected Recognitions and Awards
  C3E Lifetime Achievement Award, 2016. Annual national award recognizes a lifetime of work in solar energy. Other recipients include Mildred Dresselhaus (2012) and Mary Nichols (2015).
  Hubbard Award (NREL), 2014. NREL’s highest technical award.
  Cherry Award, 2012. Annual international award recognizes outstanding contributions to photovoltaic research.
  Dan David Prize (shared with Jerry Olson and James Hanson), Future category “Energy,” 2007. Recognized development of GaInP solar cell – an unusual case of a technology developed at a single lab becoming the industry standard. Other recipients include Gordon Moore (2010) and Paul Alivasatos (2016).
Dr. Jae Sung Lee Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Jae Sung Lee
- Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology
- SOLAR HYDROGEN PRODUCTION BY PHOTOELECTROCHEMICAL WATER SPLITTING
- Biography
  
  Professional Career
  2013- present Professor, School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, UNIST, Republic of Korea
  1986–2013 Assistant, Associate & Full Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, POSTECH, Republic of Korea
  1984–1986 Research Fellow, Catalytic Associates, Inc., Mountain View, California, USA
  2006-2007 Visiting Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Korea University, Republic of Korea
  1993-1994 Visiting Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Yale University, USA
  1975-1980 Process Engineer, Sam Sung Petrochemical Co. Ulsan, Republic of Korea
  
  Awards
  2004 Green Energy Awards (Korean Institute of Energy Engineering)
  2010 Yeosan Catalytic Science Awards (KIChE)
  
  Research Interests
  - Photocatalytic water splitting for solar hydrogen and fuels
  - Materials and electrocatalysis for water electrolysis and fuel cells.
  - Catalysis for energy and environment
Dr. Jörg Müller Hanwha QCELLS GmbH
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Jörg Müller
- Hanwha QCELLS GmbH
- APPROACHING 24 % SOLAR CELL EFFICIENCY IN MASS PRODUCTION
- Biography
  
  Jörg Müller is Senior Vice President R&D Cells at Hanwha Q Cells GmbH, his responsibility include the development and optimization of cost effective, high efficiency silicon solar cells and their implementation in gigawatt scale production. He studied physics in Munich and Edinburgh. In 2000 he joined ISFH working in the field of rear contacted and bifacial sensitive solar cells. He received his Ph.D. degree from Hannover University in 2005. He joined Q-Cells SE in 2004 working in several positions in the technology division. Since 2007 he is leading the crystalline silicon cell development at Q Cells.
Dr. Noren Pan Microlink Devices
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Noren Pan
- Microlink Devices
- HIGH SPECIFIC POWER SOLAR SHEETS FOR HALE UAV APPLICATIONS
- Biography
  
  Education
  Ph.D. EE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL May 1988
  MSEE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL May 1985
  BSEE with honors University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND May 1982
  
  Professional Career
  2000- Recent President of MicroLink Devices
  1995-2000 Chief Scientist – Kopin, Taunton, MA
  Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor for Cellular phone applications
  1988-1995 Senior Scientist – Raytheon Research Division, Lexington, MA
  High Electron Mobility Transistors, Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor
  for X-band radar applications
  
  Membership
  2007-Present Senior Member IEEE
  1997-2007 Mantech Technical Program Committee Member
Dr. Jang Won Seo Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT)
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Jang Won Seo
- Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT)
- EFFICIENT, STABLE AND SCALABLE PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELLS
- Biography
  
  Jangwon Seo is Director at Department of Convergent Energy Materials and Group Leader of perovskite solar cell team at Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) in Daejeon, South Korea. He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degree from Seoul National University in 1998, 2000 and 2006. He worked as postdoctoral researcher at University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, from 2007 to 2012. He joined KRICT in 2013. Then, he has been working as senior/principal scientist of perovskite solar cell team at KRICT. His past research experience includes study on synthesis of organic semiconducting materials, polymers, and inorganic nanomaterials for optoelectronic applications. His primary research interest is developing an efficient perovskite solar cells and modules with high stability. His group achieved world record efficiencies of 22.7%, 24.2% and 25.2% in perovskite solar cells in the past 4 years. His group has published several important papers on efficient and stable perovskite solar cells including Nature Energy (2018), Nature (2019) and Nature Communications (2020).
Dr. Ayodhya N. Tiwari Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Ayodhya N. Tiwari
- Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology
- REVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTS IN HIGH EFFICIENCY CIGS AND PEROVSKITE/CIGS THIN FILM PHOTOVOLTAICS
- Biography
  
  Ayodhya N. Tiwari is the head of the Laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics, Empa-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Material Science and Technology, and a Professor at ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of technology) Zürich, Switzerland. He is the Chairman and founder of ETH-spinout company Flisom in Zurich to transfer the lab’s innovative research excellence in flexible lightweight solar cells to industrial manufacturing. He has been conferred with an honorary doctorate degree by the Hasselt University, Belgium for his contributions in the field of thin film solar cells.
  
  Dr. Tiwari has more than 37 years of R&D experience in various thin film photovoltaic technologies. He is a co-author of more than 280 research publications and about 260 conference presentations including numerous invited papers and talks. He has co-chaired or co-organised several international conferences, co-edited special issues of leading journals on solar cells and thin films, is serving on the editorial boards of journals. He has been advisor to various institutions and expert delegation member of EU and other national agencies. Dr. Tiwari is a co-recipient of several awards and recognitions, his students have won young scientist and other awards (24 in total) at international conferences for innovative research in thin film solar cells.
  
  Important contributions of Tiwari’s group include: development of highest record efficiency flexible solar cells : 20.4% efficiency CIGS and 13.8% efficiency CdTe solar cells on polymer films with processes suitable for roll-to-roll manufacturing; monolithic interconnected flexible solar mini-modules with 16.9% efficiency; simple and safe non-vacuum deposition processes for CIGS and Kesterite solar cells; development of highly efficient semi-transparent Perovskite solar cells and CIGS based multi-junction (tandem) solar cells – recently achieved 22.7% perovskite/CIGS tandem solar
Dr. He Yan The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. He Yan
- The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
- ACHIEVING NON-FULLERENE ORGANIC SOLAR CELLS WITH NEAR 18% EFFICIENCY
- Biography
  
  Biography
  Dr. He Yan (Henry) obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Northwestern University. After that, Dr. Yan spent most of his research career at Polyera Corporation, a leading company in the Organic Electronics industry. In 2009, Dr. Yan and his team published the first high-mobility n-type semiconducting polymer in Nature and the work was referred to as the "new transistor age" on the cover page of Nature. With the achievement, Dr. Yan was invited to receive the IdTechEx Printed Electronics "Best Organic Material" award in Dresden, Germany in 2010.
  After returning to HKUST, Dr. Yan’s group achieved world record efficiency organic solar cells multiple times. The latest certified 11.5% single-junction OSC was noted in the renowned “Best Research-Cell Efficiency” chart by NREL, which the first time a Chinese institution appeared on the chart in the last 40 years. Dr. Yan’s group has published several important papers on fullerene and non-fullerene OSCs including two papers on Nature Energy and two papers on Nature Comm. in the past two years. The paper Nature Comm, 2014, 5, 5293 has been cited over 2300 times in about 4 years.
  Education
  2016-Present Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  2012-2016 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  2004-2005 Post–doctoral Fellow, Northwestern University, USA
  2000-2004 Ph. D., Northwestern University, USA.
  1996-2000 B. S., Peking University, P. R. China
  Career
  2009-2012 Vice President of Product Development, Polyera Corporation, USA
  2006-2009 Product Development Manager, Polyera Corporation, USA
  2005-2006 Senior research scientist, Air Products and Chemicals, USA
  Honors and Highlights
  2019 Web of Science “Highly Cited Researcher”
  2018 Web of Science “Highly Cited Researcher”
  2016 HKUST School of Science Teaching Award
  2015 HKUST School of Science Research Award
  2014 Achieved multiple cases of record-breaking polymer solar cells
  2011 Flextech Flexi Award for R&D team award
  2010 IDTechEx Printed Electronics “Best Organic Materials” Award
  2009 Work highlighted on the cover page of “Nature” as the “new transistor age”
Dr. Masafumi Yamaguchi Toyota Technological Institute
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- Keynote Speaker
- Dr. Masafumi Yamaguchi
- Toyota Technological Institute
- Effectiveness of PV-Powered Vehicles for Creation of Clean Energy Society
- Biography
  
  Career
  Professor Emeritus, Invited Research Fellow, Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya, Japan Visiting Professor of the Kyushu University
  Chairman, PV-Powered Vehicle Strategy Committee, NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
  (Former) Project Leader of the PV R&D Project, NEDO
  (Former) Research Supervisor, Creative Energy Generation by using Solar Energy, JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency)
  
  Awards
  The Science and Technology Award by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2015
  The WCPEC Award in 2014
  The PVSEC Award in 2011
  The William Cherry Award from the IEEE in 2008
  The Becquerel Prize from the European Commission in 2004