The steps taken to reach the project´s objectives included:
- Organisation of 15 matchmaking events (with 140 total unique participants) between PV companies active in technology development (primarily) and public-sector research organisations, with each Implan activity addressed multiple times and an overall “enriching and valuable" experience according to participants. Technical partners in WP1 were some of the most voted stakeholders in searching for private investments, research opportunities, or expertise for business models/written applications.
- Definition of a comprehensive “Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation to Relaunch the Italian Photovoltaic Sector and Contribute to the Targets of the National Energy and Climate Plan”
- Preparation of full project proposals on “Utility-scale PV” (USPV) and “Building Integrated PV” (BIPV). Two proposals were submitted to the Italian Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITE) for the 1st flagship in the call “Ricerca di Sistema Elettrico”. One has already been funded (project “TANDEM” led by Olivotto Glass Technologies s.p.a budget €3M) and one awaits evaluation (project GoPV, led by ENEA, budget €5M). For the 2nd flagship, 2 projects were conceived - one has been funded (project “FOURIER” led by CAMLIN Italia s.r.l budget €1.7M) and one awaits final evaluation (project “CANVAS”, led by CNR, budget €5M).
- Creation of an effective network of R&I stakeholders (>60) - in the form of “National PV Network of R&I” - who have been actively involved in the preparation of the White Paper and defining priorities for national R&I projects
- Establishment of the Distributed Lab through the mapping of all the facilities, lab equipment and know-how in the >380 R&D laboratories in Italy (database accessible via the PV Impact site)
- Organisation of 2 Scientific & Technical meetings to further Photowatt´s medium-term R&D plan related to several potential objectives of the PV Implan.
- 7 companies accessing Photowatt’s lines to bridge the gap from lab to industry
- Setting-up an online database of European, national and transnational PV RD&I projects to collect projects related to the activities of the implementation plan and examine how each member state invests in terms of public spending and in which sector of the PV value chain
- Supporting IWG-PV´s SET Plan 2020 and 2021 reporting exercise for ongoing projects
- Monitoring the metrics and KPIs set by the IWG by consulting PV Impact partners, the IWG, and ETIP-PV to assess the progress of the Implementation Plan. Analysis used in preparation of the ETIP-PV´s new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda will be the basis for the IWG-PV's Implan revision to be finalised this year
- Providing data insights on Competitiveness for specific segments of the PV value chain to DG ENER for their assessment of the competitiveness of RES technologies (CETTIR Report), and the 2022 Competitiveness progress report - Photovoltaics
- Organisation of the event "Ecolabels for PV panels: the missing link for EU-based, green PV manufacturing?", totalling 128 participants and 12 expert speakers