Total’s Neerinck Is New EU PVSEC Chairman

The Vice President of Technology and R&D for Renewables at French energy giant Total’s Gas, Renewables and Power division, Dominique Neerinck has been appointed as the EU PVSEC 2018 Conference General Chairman. He was elected by the EU PVSEC International Scientific Advisory Committee (ISAC).

EU PVSEC, or the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition, is the largest international conference for PV research, technologies and applications. It also holds exhibitions for the PV industry. The 35th edition is scheduled to take place from September 24 to 28, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium.

A PhD in solid state physics from the Catholic University of Leuven in the area of thin film deposition technologies, Neerinck has worked with Philips and Bekaert, before joining Total. He is currently a board member of the Institut Photovoltaique d’Ile de France (IPVF) and European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA).

“The decentralized and intermittent nature of PV production gives rise to innovative commercial offerings for optimizing renewable energy generation and consumption, combining increasingly cost-competitive batteries with smart energy solutions using big data and artificial intelligence techniques,” said Neerinck while talking about the forthcoming edition of the EU PVSEC. Adding, “Undoubtedly, this embedding of PV in hybrid electricity systems will give rise to new markets with grid services and aggregation of production and consumption sources.”

Last year’s EU PVSEC was chaired by Prof Dr Arno HM Smets (see EU PVSEC 2017 Appoints Chairman).