Art. 14 of the new European Union RES directive (28/EC/2009) says that Member States shall ensure that by the end of 2012, installers of PV can benefit from certification schemes. In Annex IV of the new RES directive, it is clearly stated that PV installers shall be certified by an accredited training program. Such training should give an overview of the market situation of solar products and cover ecological aspects, components, characteristics and dimensioning of solar systems, selection of accurate systems and dimensioning of components fire protection, related subsidies, as well as the design, installation, and maintenance of PV installations. The training should also provide good knowledge of any European standards for technology, and certification such as Solar Keymark, and related national and EU laws.

Another strategic target group for which education is highly important are academic researchers and students. Positive trend in this matter has already been observed as growing number of NMS invest in scientific human resources, with regard to PV technology improvement that could one day render this energy source achievable for almost every household.

Bulgaria

The Laboratory of Solar Energy and New Energy Sources at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (CL SENES) and more exactly its integral unit--the Bulgarian Centre of Excellence of Solar Energy, is the leading institution dealing with education and training of young researchers in the field of solar energy in Bulgaria. The center organizes specialized workshops, conferences and schools on PV energy conversion contributing in this way not only to the scientific knowledge and technological know-how of solar energy conversion but also raising awareness about solar energy technologies and their environmental impact. The CL SENES along with Bulgarian universities and high schools signed agreements on joint educational program implementation in the field of RES and more specifically research dedicated to solar cells technologies.

Several Bulgarian universities (e.g., Gabrovo Technical University, South-West University in Blagoevgrad) offer special courses on PV materials, solar cells and PV systems in the curricula of their studies. Plentiful opportunities are open especially to Ph.D. students, young researchers and engineers, namely workshops, special Advanced Studies Institutes at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences with educational programmes in the field of PV, International Scientific Forums and Schools. For this purpose, a considerable financial support has been assigned, one of its source being the European Social Fund (operational program Development of Human Resources) which started in 2008. Noteworthy, some Bulgarian high schools also introduced PV dedicated program called Solar technician.

Cyprus

In Cyprus, many information seminars are organized in order to inform the public about the use of PV technology and the exploitation of renewable energies in general. At the department of Electrical Engineering in the University of Cyprus, there is PV dedicated part of educational program at both: undergraduate and postgraduate level. Moreover, in department of Geotechnical Sciences and Environmental Management of the Cyprus University of Technology and in the electrical department of private colleges, there are studies and research programs in RES including PV.

Additionally, Cyprus Energy Service organizes meetings and information seminars in schools in order to increase the students awareness regarding the PV systems and the rest of RES. Also in 56 schools a special educational model has been introduced, it provides the students with up-to-date information on different aspects of PV systems (functioning, efficiency, optimum slope, orientation, etc.).

Czech Republic

In Czech Republic, there are conferences and seminars dedicated to PV and RES in general almost every two weeks. Czech RE Agency organizes special workshops for designers of PV plants. Workshops are accredited by the Czech Chamber of Certified Engineers and Technicians Engaged in Construction. The Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the Department of Electrotechnology at Czech Technical University in Prague is the academic centre of PV-oriented education.

Estonia

The new international curricula Program for Master studies was opened at Tallinn University of Technology, concentrating on different alternative energy sources with the main attention to PV. During the first year, 20 students from different countries (Estonia, China, Nepal, Mexico, Russia, Latvia) were accepted. The aim of the Masters program is to provide an academic education on all possibilities to minimize and optimize the use of energy based on thorough applied and practical interdisciplinary skills.

The students can specialize in Materials and on processes for Sustainable Energetics with the special focus on the PV energy. Whereas the specialization on Materials will lead to a deep level of scientific knowledge on this subject, the specialization on processes gives broader and more general overview of all aspects of sustainable PV energy conversion, transport, storage and use enabling students to coordinate and lead specialists to work together to create optimized systems and thereby provide best solutions for the customer, i.e., planning organizations, private and industrial users of energy as well as energy contractors and providers.

Due to integrated teaching of general, core, and special courses in science, engineering, economic and crosscutting fields such as project management, quality control and social skills the students will acquire very complex, thorough knowledge.

Hungary

The Budapest University of Technology and Economics offers separate teaching subject entitled Solar Cells and Renewable Energy Sources. The aim of the subject is to give an overview of the RES with special regard to the E.U. standards and to spread specialist knowledge in the field of operation, construction and manufacturing of solar cells. The subject is facultative for both bachelor and master degree students of Electrical Engineering & Computer Sciences Faculty (open also to interested students from other faculties).

Scheduled for four lessons per week, this subject relates in 90% to PV. The teaching languages are Hungarian and English and students practical skills are also taken into account as they need to manufacture simple c-Si solar cells based on planar technology. Small groups of students work on technology up-grade in frames of their project laboratory task or thesis writing.

Another academic institutions providing education on PV subjects is the Szent Istvn University. Focus on solar electric power generation is integrated in more general master curriculum--Energy and Environment.

In Hungary, there is also a post-graduate course on Solar Engineering. This course is concerned with energy use, general aspects of the use of renewables, phototermic systems, photovoltaic systems, passive applications, autonomous systems. Concerning to the photovoltaic part of the course it relates to: basic terminology, solar cells and applications. Grid-connected PV systems are discussed. Modeling and simulation are also the part of the course.

Year 2009 was also very intense when it comes to dissemination of solar advantages. Many workshops and conferences, have been accompanied by PV-dedicated presentations, press releases, interviews and documents. To name just a few, the first meeting for Hungarian RES Law preparation in the Hungarian Development Bank (March 2009), Hungarian Solar Energy Society General Assembly Meeting (November 2009).

Latvia

The Faculty of Building and Civil Engineering at Riga Technical University provides lectures for students on subject Renewable Energy Resources for Buildings Energy Supply. The objective of the lecture is to give students knowledge about RES use in building, such as alternative heating systems, energy balance, designing of electrical heating system, BIPV. Students can learn also about solar energy heating systems: liquid systems, collectors, array design and many more related topics.

When it comes to Latvias demonstration, the Solar Energy Use Testing Polygon--the installation of PV batteries with total capacity of 1,315 kW was located on the roof of the Institute of Physical Energetics. The main goal of this Solar Energy Use polygon is PV batteries and solar collectors testing in real conditions in order to obtain a potential of solar energy use and for further development of solar energy use in Latvia. Data on real solar radiation and other Climate conditions is collected and analysed.

Lithuania

PV is a part of the master study curriculum on Optoelectronics at the Physics department of the Vilnius University. This program was introduced with the support from the E.U. structural funds; these sources have also supported the publication of two new textbooks in Lithuanian: G. Tamulaitis and G. Juska--Energy-saving semiconductor technologies and A. Krotkus-Semiconductor optoelectronics devices and systems. In the future, a new study program dedicated to PV device and system production and application is going to be introduced at the Vilniuss Technical University.

Noteworthy in 2009, the Lithuanian Science Council put PV on the list of topics of national research programs called The future energetics.

Malta

PV penetration in the local market was given birth mainly through demonstrative installations in public buildings and by a relatively few pioneers who due to their environmental concerns, installed a PV system.

Poland

The main PV promoting institutions in Poland are the Warsaw University of Technology and the Polish Society for Photovoltaics. Not only do they organize education and outreach programs within Poland, they also sponsor lectures, classes, laboratories and trainings targeted on academic and general public. They advocates the widespread use of PV energy, relentlessly presenting it as as realistic, reliable, and economic source of energy. Fighting with well-anchored clichs of expensive and unprofitable in Polish conditions, they encourage integration of PV energy into Polands research, economy and everyday life.

In October 2009, the conference on PV took place in Krynica. It was organized by the Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Science of Polish Academy of Sciences from Cracow. The Photovoltaic Laboratory in Kozy manages an educational program Dissemination of Polish and world achievements in the field of PV in the higher education process during 2009-2010.

The National Fund of Environmental Protection and Water Supplies Management provides also some support for education initiatives and demonstration RES projects, but not PV-specific.

Slovakia

Since 2008, the Department of Experimental Physics at Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics at Comenius University in Bratislava has held an academic accreditation for new study programs, which include PV research for both Bachelors and Ph.D. programs. The two curricula are: Renewable Energy and Experimental Physics (Bachelor) and a New and Renewable Energy Sources (Ph.D.). The doctoral program is largely focused on nanotechnologies, new trends in material technology and RES. PV is an independent and obligatory subject within the program. The department is willing to strengthen applied research in PV, so Ph.D. students are offered new subjects on PV research (mainly third generation technology).

The rising trend of applied PV research will be supported by the new center of excellence--with a laboratory for testing PV materials--a 100 kW installation has already been introduced and operates on the roof of the faculty since the beginning of 2009.

At the Slovak University of Technology, there is project of Renewable Energy Sources-Centre of Excellence, with funding of 1.5 mio EUR since 2008. Research of PV is supported by new devices oriented on electric measurements, organic semiconductors and transparent conductive materials. Several departments and faculties of the university have joined the project including Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology. Another academic centers dealing with PV are Faculty of Management at the Comenius University and Slovak Academy of Science.

Slovak RE Agency educational activities--Slovak RE Agency since its foundation in 2006, has contributed greatly to the public education of PV, as well as development of various projects supporting PV awareness in Slovakia. Currently, it is the only organization in Slovakia, providing a series of workshops and seminars focused strictly on PV issues. In 2009, Slovak RE Agency carried out several round tables on Slovak legislation regulating renewables. In December 2009, PV dedicated conference Photovoltaics, our sunny future took place, and it was the biggest conference ever organized in Slovakia on this subject.

Slovenia

At the time being, there is no formal education program for PV in Slovenia. It is incorporated into the Electrical Engineering Programs--both academic and secondary education levels.

The medium technical school ika-Ljubljana organizes one or two weeks seminars and trainings for PV installers. The school is trying to introduce a regular curricula for solar technician. Many of the Slovenian schools with collaboration with energy companies succeed to develop demonstrational PV plants. These companies invest and manage the plant, the schools have accession to online visualization of operation for analysis and education.

The University of Ljubljana offers special PV specialized program for Ph.D. students. It is conducted by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, which is linked to the research activities at the Laboratory of Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics. Apart from the research program Photovoltaics and Electronics funded by Slovenian Research Agency, students from this faculty participated in 2009 in two FP7 projects: IP Athlet and STREP Solamon, both related to advanced thin-film photovoltaics, including optical and electrical modeling, simulations and characterization.

Slovenia promotes PV successfully via press, audio and video media. Among some newspaper houses, Finance succeeded to develop in the last three years a special Supplement on PV, the last one on 16 pages. Updated information concerning PV is available on the Slovenian PV platform website.

Research and Development

In the NMS, research is conducted mostly by academic institutions. They are represented by centers of excellence, the major centers are located in Bulgaria (Central Laboratory of Solar Energy and New Energy Sources at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Lithuania (Applied Research Institute for Prospective Technologies), Poland (Warsaw and SolarLab, Wroclaw), Romania (Academy of Scientists from Romania-AOSR), Czech Republic (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic), Estonia (Tallinn Technical University. Also a member of Nordic PV Centre of Excellence along with Sweden, Finland, Norway and Russia), Slovenia (Laboratory for Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics at Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana) and Hungary (Technical Material Science Institute Budapest).

Bulgaria

In Central Laboratory of Solar Energy and New Energy Sources at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the process of electrochemical growing of nanostructures ZnO films on coated by SnO2 glass substrate is developed. Crystalline nanostructures such as nanowires have received increasing attention due to potential applications in solar cells, nanoscale electronic, optical and sensing devices, etc. In the framework of photovoltaic applications, they are an interesting option to be applied as n-type wide band material in nanostructures solar cells. They show quantum confinement and direct path for electrons promoting higher electron diffusion coefficient of ZnO nanowired areas with respect to nanoparticles.

Cyprus

Cyprus research and technology development in PV sector is limited. However, various training programs and seminars are carried out aiming to train the engineers and technicians in the planning and installation of PV systems. The main leader in research in the sector of PV is the University of Cyprus. The Photovoltaic Technology Group of the electrical department of the Cyprus University carries out a strong scientific research in the field of PV performance, in collaboration with other foreign Institutes. The main aim of this group is to evaluate and monitor the performance of PV systems in Cyprus environment by analyzing the data taken from a small PV research park. This PV park is located at the premises of the university and is constituted of 14 different types of PV systems, examined under various parameters such as weather conditions, irradiation, performance reduction, etc. The results are used to provide information for the establishment and further research towards PV systems efficiency improvement. This project is funded by the German Ministry of Environment.

Estonia

Despite negligibly low installed PV capacity in Estonia, the RTD sector is growing rapidly. In May 2009, the 3rd Nordic PV Conference took place in Estonian capital--Tallinn. It was the biggest conference on PV ever organized in Estonia.

In the middle of 2009, an impressive amount of 2.5 million euro has been earmarked to the spin-off company from Estonia--Crystalsol. Crystalsol was created as a result of cooperation of local academic researchers and investors from abroad. The money comes from two Nordic venture capital funds (Conor Venture Partners and Energy Future Invest) and from one of the largest institutions within the national support system promoting business and regional development in Estonia--Enterprise Estonia. The beneficiary, Crystalsol, promotes powder-based photovoltaic technology new semiconductor material, Copper Zinc Tin Sulfoselenide (CZTS). It is highly innovative as it does not use rare metals like indium and tellurium. Patented Monograin Membrane technology is revolutionary as it combines stability and efficiency of single crystalline materials with low-temperature roll-to-roll manufacturing at high speed. With the predicted production cost lower than 0.5 EUR/Wp, Crystalsol is likely to become a leader in the PV modules sector. Thanks to the massive pecuniary support and business know-how, pursuing of its ambitious projects is no longer constrained.

Latvia

PV research field is developed in the Institute of Physical Energetics (IPE). One part of the State Research Program Development of modern methods and technologies, rational use of energy and improvement of security of energy supply is program Research and Development of RES effective use and new technologies for RES includes research on PV use for electricity production in Latvia. Solar Energy Use Polygon is built up on the roof of IPE for the research work on solar energy use and for testing of different equipment for solar energy use in real climate conditions.

Research relates also to the organic cells for PV in IPE. The best results are achieved for composites of polygeksilitiofenu and soluble fullerene. Research in this field is expended with use of additional electron-donor molecules of GaOH phthalocyanine (GaOHPc), which is characterized with strong intermolecular charge transfer in infrared spectrum. The purpose of the research now is to find new composite material whose structure includes organic electron-donor and electron-acceptor molecules with practically constant photosensitivity.

Lithuania

Two new directions of PV solar cell research were initiated in Lithuania in 2009. At the Institute for Applied Research (IAR) of the Vilnius University, new Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) reactor was installed that will be used for growing In, Ga, and Al nitride structures for multi-junction solar cells. Energy bandgap in nitride semiconductors changes over an extremely wide range from 0.7 eV for InN to 6 eV (AlN), thus it covers the whole solar spectrum and can be exploited for efficient light harvesting. Another research group at IAR, together with the scientists from the Organic Chemistry Department, Kaunas Technological University, and a company Tikslioji sinteze has created a consortium that will develop organic solar cells. Electrical and optical characteristics of the molecular crystals necessary for these devices have been investigated by different Lithuanian research groups for several years already; presently this research has reached the stage, when the device structures will be manufactured and characterized. This will be possible thanks to new equipment for organic material casting and contacting that has been acquired by the research group at IAR.

Malta

In Malta, so far no industry is involved in the manufacturing or testing of photovoltaic systems, though the knowledge base is present as indicated through other hi-tech industries in electronics and semiconductors operating on the island. All photovoltaic systems are imported in the case of Malta. Research is mainly carried out by a few institutions, and a particular industry, driven by university academic staff. One particular faculty is involved in power inverters technology, whereas one local manufacturing company, Abertax (Malta) Ltd., specializing in components for energy and renewable sources markets, is doing particular design of experiments on the various systems and technologies installed at its premises. The scope is to investigate the performance of various technologies and their adequacy in the Maltese climate and environment.

Poland

The fundamental photovoltaic research is being carried out at the university level by groups working on different materials. The investigations concentrate on thin-film materials. The research on CuInSe and related compounds is conducted at the Department of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology. At the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, there is also a group working on CIS and amorphous silicon devices and photovoltaic structures. In Poznan and Gdansk Universities of Technology, there are groups working on organic photovoltaics. The outdoor testing and monitoring is carried out in several groups (the most advanced at the Solar Lab in Wroclaw, Warsaw University of Technology, AGH Cracow, Opole, and others). The Warsaw University of Technology has an Outdoor Test Facility. The OTF possess state-of-the-art measurement equipment made by world-class producers, allowing for detailed research of cells, modules, and systems. There are more than 20 teams in Poland directly involved in PV-related RTD work at the universities and research institutes across the country. There are about 80 scientists and 40 technical staff employees. The existing intellectual potential is significant and has been better exploited since the EU enlargement process started, mostly through research projects within the 5tt, 6th and 7th EU Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development and Intelligent Energy Europe EACI Program (PV-NMS-NET, PV BLOOM, PV LEGAL).

Romania

In Romania, the research for solar cells and modules is conducted by the National R&D Institute for Microelectronic and University of Bucharest. The main field of research are cells based on organic semiconductors, CIS, CdTe, dye-sensitized solar cell technology, cells whose high efficiency based on crystalline and Si cells based on nanostructure oxide materials.

Research in the field of PV systems is conducted also by the New Energy Sources Laboratory of the  Research Institute for Electrical Engineering (NESL-ICPE), a research center founded 30 years ago.

Another Romanian important research institution is the ICPE-NESL Centre of Transylvania University of Brasov and Institute For Electrchemistry in Timisoara. Their areas of focus are PV hybrid systems, backup systems and PV-hybrid micro grid systems. Research in the field of grid connection systems is led by Polytechnic Bucharest, University Valahia Targoviste, ICPE-NESL and University Dunarea de Jos Galati.

Advancements in RTD are made thanks to numerous programs providing financial back-up for researchers. Partneships, Ph.D. and post-docs education as well as entire educational institutions in Romania are subject to support coming from national and European level funds.

Exemplary PV demonstration project has been accomplished by Transylvania University of Brasov where a green energy independent campus with PV solar park has been created.

Slovakia

National Center for Research and Application of Renewable Energy Sources was established at the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. The center is supported by the European Regional Development Fund within Operational Program Research and Development. Four faculties of SUT are involved in the center.

The centers objective is to increase the research potential of the SUT and the integration of scientific teams focused on new, environmentally acceptable renewable energy sources.

Slovenia

In 2009, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, which is linked to the research activities at the Laboratory of Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics has participated (apart from the research program Photovoltaics and Electronics funded by Slovenian Research Agency) in two FP7 projects: IP Athlet and STREP Solamon, both related to advanced thin-film photovoltaics, including optical and electrical modeling, simulations and characterization. 

Dr. Stanislaw M. Pietruszko is the Head of the Centre for Photovoltaics at the Warsaw University of Technology and the President of the Polish Society for Photovoltaics. He is also Member of the Steering Committee of the European Photovoltaic Technology Platform. His 32-year scientific career in PV is focused on research on thin-film amorphous silicon solar cells and thin-film transistors, PV modules and systems. Dr. Pietruszko has published more than 150 scientific papers. He has a broad technological expertise which covers activities in communication, management and policy.