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| “Italian PV Summit” To Kick Off Solarexpo In 2009  Solarexpo will open its doors this year with a high-level event conceived especially for the financial community and companies, engineers and researchers in the photovoltaic sector: "ITALIAN PV SUMMIT – seizing the opportunities of a record-setting market". The Italian PV Summit will take place in Verona, Italy, on 6-7 May 2009, kicking off the 10th edition of Solarexpo, the international exhibition and conference on renewable energy and distributed generation. "This conference will be of the highest technical and scientific quality and will be explicitly international in its scope, " said Luca Zingale, Solarexpo's scientific director. "The Italian PV Summit, which aims to replicate the success of the national conference that has traditionally opened Solarexpo, will seek to establish itself from the outset as an authoritative reference event for all companies and investors, whether Italian or foreign, who care about the successful development of the Italian photovoltaic market." Highly regarded international experts will outline the future prospects and dynamics of the Italian photovoltaic market, which continues to see exceptionally high growth rates despite the difficult economic and financial environment. The event will dedicate particular attention to three kinds of installation that are favoured at the moment by companies and investors: building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), industrial roofing and multi-megawatt plants. Part of the enthusiasm for the Italian PV industry lies in the fact that the market could become one of the first in the world to reach so-called grid parity, which is when the cost of solar power matches that of conventional generation. But this prospect depends to a large degree on the future of Italy's feed-in tariff, or conto energia. The conference programme will include discussions analysing the various aspects of these key topics and their capacity to drive growth. As regards potential barriers, time will be dedicated to the difficult questions of permitting and grid connection, two factors that can cause long delays to projects and generate considerable uncertainty for investors. The future of the sector is also, of course, closely tied to the availability of financing. Therefore, the conference will highlight this aspect and the bankability provided by the feed-in tariff mechanism, an element that can be critical for planning long-term investments at a time when banks are seeking to limit risk and rein in lending. Last but not least, a series of speakers will talk about the potential to develop the full photovoltaic production chain in Italy and attract investments in this area. write your comments about the article :: © 2009 Exhibition News :: home page |