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On Sunday, July 29, 2012, the Resnick Sustainability Institute and the LMI-EFRC at Caltech co-organized a one-day workshop on Redefining the Limits of Photovoltaic Efficiency. Leaders from industry, academia and government gathered together and discussed new technologies for redefining the limits of solar energy conversion efficiency. The program featured invited talks, a poster session, and topically-focused breakout sessions in the afternoon.

 

Invited speakers included Harry Atwater (Director, LMI-EFRC and Resnick Institute, Caltech), Ivan Celanovic (Principal Research Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Geoffrey Kinsey (Director, Photovoltaic Technologies, Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems), Sarah Kurtz (Principal Scientist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory), Minh Le (Chief Engineer, Solar Technologies Program, Department of Energy), Michelle Povinelli (WiSE Gabilan Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California); Wladek Walukiewicz (Solar Energy Materials Research Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), and Roland Winston (Professor, University of California, Merced).

 

The workshop also featured a lunchtime poster session. Congratulations to the winner of the Best Poster Award: Lanfang Li from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, for her poster entitled "Redefining Photovoltaic Efficiency with Silicon Microcells." Workshop attendees also participated in topical breakout sessions in the afternoon. Thank you to all of the researchers, students, and postdocs who participated this workshop and made it a success!

 

Harry Atwater welcome presentation

Professor Harry Atwater gives the introductory presentation

 

workshop audience

Workshop participants in the Hameetman Auditorium

 

Geoffrey Kinsey presentation

Dr. Geoffrey Kinsey explores concentrator photovoltaics for high-efficiency photovoltaics.

 

workshop

Dr. Wladek Walukiewicz speaks with workshop participants.

 

best poster award

Lanfang Li, a Ph.D. Candidate in Prof. Ralph Nuzzo's group at UIUC and a member of the LMI-EFRC, won the Best Poster Award for her poster on "Redefining Photovoltaic Efficiency with Silicon Microcells." Pictured with her is Chris Corcoran, a graduate student in Prof. Nuzzo's group and a coauthor on the work presented in the poster.

 

breakout session

Dr. Minh Le and Prof. Harry Atwater discuss the "Future of the PV Industry" during the afternoon breakout session, moderated by Dr. Matt Sheldon (postdoc, Caltech) and Dr. Morgan Putnam (Caelux Corp.).

 

breakout session

Dr. Sarah Kurtz, Prof. Roland Winston, and Dr. Geoffrey Kinsey share their opinions on "Concentrators, High Efficiency, and Module Performance" during an afternoon breakout session moderated by Dr. Jonathan Grandidier (postdoc, Caltech).

 

breakout session

Dr. Wladek Walukiewicz, Prof. Michelle Povinelli, and Dr. Ivan Celanovic serve as panelists during the breakout session on "Innovative Solar Cell Design," moderated by Dr. Bryce Sadtler (postdoc, Caltech).

 

workshop conclusion

The concluding session of the workshop.

 


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