Solliance Appoints New Director

European thin film solar PV research organization Solliance made an announcement that it has appointed Angèle Reinders, Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), as its new Director.

A partnership between Dutch/Flemish/German research institutes, universities and industrial partners, Solliance is committed to developing high-quality PV products. Then, in cooperation with regional partners, it helps produce and apply them. Institutions that are part of Solliance include Dutch research organization TNO, Dutch universities TU/e,  TU Delft, University of Twente, the University of Groningen; Belgium based imec and  Hasselt University; and Germany’s research center Forschungszentrum Jülich.

Now with Reinders assuming the role of the director, her focus will be on Dutch/Flemish/German solar energy partnerships. Reinders comes with a demonstrated history of working in energy research in collaboration with industry. She is skilled in Photovoltaic Solar Energy, Smart Grids, Sustainable Mobility, Physics, Renewable Energy, Sustainability Assessments, Research and Development (R&D).

For the past decade, Solliance’s focus has been on the development of thin-film technologies. But now they eye to broaden and include all innovative PV applications. This would mean high-end combinations of thin-film and silicon solar cells, so-called tandem PV applications, and integrated PV modules in transport vehicles. Reinders’ role would be to drive these initiatives.

Expressing delight at Reinders’ appointment, Executive Vice President of imec, Ludo Deferm said, “Innovation within solar cell technology and related systems is crucial to ensure that more high-performance, intelligent, affordable and multi-functional solar cell applications become available. In Europe, it is important to join forces. TNO and imec are working together with the Universities TU/e and UHasselt, using the labs in Eindhoven and Genk, to turn these innovations into marketable solutions. We welcome Prof. Angèle Reinders as the new director to further progress on these challenging endeavour.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Chairman of the TU/e Executive Board Robert-Jan Smits said, “I am very pleased with the appointment of Angele Reinders as the new director of Solliance. The Solliance Supervisory board was unanimously enthusiastic about her qualities. With her, we get a driven professor with outstanding qualities within energy research in collaboration with industrial and societal partners. She has convincing connecting qualities, a large network both inside and outside the university world, and she has great decisiveness and drive. These are qualities that will come in handy to realise Solliance’s ambitions.”

Adding to this, Managing Director Energy & Materials Transition at TNO, Henk-Jan Vink said, “Given the major role that solar PV plays in the energy transition and the importance of cooperation between research institutions, I am very pleased that we have succeeded in filling the position of Director Solliance with the appointment of Prof Reinders.”

In addition to this new role at Solliance, Reinders will continue to be Professor of Design of Sustainable Energy Systems at TU/e.