What is the IEA PVPS Programme?

The IEA PVPS Programme www.iea-pvps.org is one of the collaborative R & D agreements established within the IEA and, since 1993, its participating member countries have been conducting a variety of joint projects in the applications of photovoltaic solar electricity. The objectives of the programme are to stimulate activities that will lead to a cost reduction of PV systems applications, to increase awareness of PV potential and value, to foster the removal of technical and non-technical barriers and to enhance co-operation with non-OECD countries. The long-term participating countries are Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. The European Commission and the European Photovoltaic Industry Association are also members. Malaysia and Turkey are recent members. The overall programme is headed by an Executive Committee composed of one representative from each participating country, while the management of individual research activities (tasks) is the responsibility of Operating agents. Activities currently concern information exchange and dissemination, performance, reliability and analysis of PV systems, very large scale PV systems, PV services for developing countries, urban scale PV applications, PV hybrid systems and a new task on Environmental, Health and Safety issues.