SOLVE 2024 Spring Conference
The SOLVE Spring Conference 2024 hosted by RISE and took place at Chalmers Conference Center in Gothenburg from May 28 and 29, bringing together researchers, industry professionals and academic partners from around the globe for two days to discuss recent advances and future directions in solar energy research.
Day 1: Engaging Presentations and Networking
The conference began with registration, followed by a networking lunch where attendees had the opportunity to connect and share insights. Marika Edoff officially opened the conference with a welcome address, providing an overview of SOLVE's progress and upcoming events, including a Master Thesis Webinar on June 17 and a joint SOLVE Webinar on August 30.
Key Presentations:
- Burcak Ebin from Chalmers & Competence Centre Recycling discussed PV recycling and Chalmers' research.
- Per Söderberg from the Church of Sweden highlighted human rights challenges and due diligence in the PV supply chain.
- Carlos Lopez from the Swedish Energy Agency spoke about eco design and energy labeling for PV modules and inverters.
The poster session featured research from PhD students within SOLVE, including:
- Bhavya Rakheja: Influence of SnOx properties on perovskite solar cell performance.
- Klara Kiselman: Photoluminescence characterization for thin film solar cells.
- Majid Salari: LBIC phase mapping in silicon solar cells and modules.
- Marieke Rynoson: GTI Decomposition in high latitudes.
- Elin Daun: Digitalization in energy and construction sectors.
- Mohamad Koubar: Planning for large-scale solar PV energy production.
- Sebastian Zainali: Machine learning for agrivoltaic systems.
- Silvia Ma Lu: Combining broccoli and semi-transparent CdTe PV systems.
- Nicklas Jävärgård: Statistical methods for generating synthetic data.
- Phil Aupke: Distributed machine learning for smart energy grids.
- Santiago Valencia Gozalez: Strategies for optimizing photovoltaic systems.
- Amal Nammouchi: Generative AI for renewable energy communities.
The day concluded with a study visit to Hans-Olof Nilsson's Offgrid Villa and a dinner at the conference centre.

Day 2: Theme Discussions and Future Plans
The second day featured thematic discussions across various research areas:
Theme 1: Advanced PV Technology
- Updates on company mentors, collaboration with industrial partners, and PhD student progress, including detailed presentations by Bhavya Rakheja, Klara Kiselman, and Majid Salari.
Theme 3 & 6: Enhanced PV Systems & Planning for Large-scale Expansion
- Presentations and discussions by PhD students Santiago Valencia Gozalez, Mohamad Koubar, Phil Aupke, and Amal Nammouchi emphasized the interconnectedness of their projects and the potential for collaborative results.
Theme 7: Sustainability
- Michiel van Noord from RISE discussed sustainability activities, and André Augusto presented the Student’s Sustainability Challenge and facilitated a brainstorming session on research questions.
Communication Activity:
- Hans Nyhlén from STUNS led a session to enhance attendees' communication skills.
Theme 2: Building Integration
- Discussions included updates on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), fire safety in PV installations, and presentations by Mikael Carlson and Reidar Stølen on PV residential fires and fire safety research.
Themes 4 & 5: Land Sharing & Economics and Business Models
- Presentations by Sebastian Zainali and Silvia Ma Lu on their PhD progress and interactions with SOLVE partners, and discussions on advancing work on agrivoltaics and PV design economy studies.
The conference concluded with final discussions and remarks by Marika Edoff.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the next SOLVE event and continuing our collective efforts towards advancing solar energy research and implementation.
For more details and future events, visit our website.
