The Solar R&D Center Institut Photovoltaïque d’Ile-de-France (IPVF) has signed a six-year, €18.5 million financing agreement with the French National Research Agency (ANR) which will allow the new research centre to start operating with government endorsement of its scientific programmes. The IPVF is a joint project between Total, EDF, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and École polytechnique engineering school, alongside Air Liquide, Horiba Jobin Yvon and Riber. ANR will operate it on behalf of the government agency for investment policy, Commissariat Général à l’Investissement (CGI), under the Efficacity research program to help cities meet future energy targets.
The first president of the new centre will be Jean-François Minster, Senior Vice President, Scientific Development at Total who commented “The Institute aims to make France a global leader in solar energy and to shape the future landscape of photovoltaics. We must support the energy transition by speeding up the development of affordable, efficient solutions.”
IPVF’s research activities will aim to improve existing solar technologies and develop new concepts. They will consist of five scientific programmes which will include research on materials for high-efficiency silicon cells, high-efficiency thin-film solar cells incorporating chalcogenide materials, a multidisciplinary programme on advanced characterisation techniques, theory and modelling and a programme dedicated to environmental impact studies.
IPVF has a total budget of €150 million and construction of the new centre will begin in 2014 on the Paris-Saclay campus. The project expects to employ nearly 200 researchers from the private sector and partner public research centers by 2016 and will also host teachers and Master’s and doctoral students. It will also form partnerships with other Saclay research centres, major global solar manufacturers and small business and industry within the Greater Paris area.
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