ISES Season's Greetings 2019
ISES Season's Greetings 2019
The global voice for renewable energy
100% Renewable Energy for all used wisely and efficiently
 
Learn more about ISES here
 
Sunburst Column
A column by Dr. Dave Renné, ISES President

My Farewell to You as ISES President

With this message I bid a fond farewell to all of the ISES membership and our extended family of partners and renewable energy enthusiasts as President of ISES.  I have had the distinct honor and privilege to serve as your president for an unprecedented ten years, spanning the entire decade of the twenty teens. During that time, I have written about 80 columns for this newsletter. I am pleased to turn the reins over to Prof. Klaus Vajen of Kassel University, who becomes ISES President on 1 January 2020. And although this will be my last column as President, I do intend to continue with my periodic SunBurst blog in future newsletters.

During the past decade the installed capacity of Solar PV systems has grown from 23 GW at the start of 2010 to around 600 GW today, and solar thermal systems from 203 GW-thermal to over 500 GW-thermal during that same time period.  Over this same time period wind energy installed capacity grew from 159 to over 600 GW and concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) grew from less than 1 GW to over 5.5 GW.  Today the global power sector is powered by over 26% renewable energy[1], and renewables surpass traditional energy sources for new installed power capacity around the world.  Government policies and national targets for RE deployments have grown significantly through the decade, and utility acceptance of variable renewable energy supply has expanded in many countries.  Clearly the twenty teens saw great strides in a global clean energy transformation, and for all purposes could be called the decade of renewable energy.
Read the full column here
 
Sad news....Roberto Román
Shortly before the distribution of this newsletter, we received the very sad news that our friend, colleague, and ISES Board Member from Chile, Prof. Roberto Román passed away on 18 December. Roberto was a true solar energy champion in his home country of Chile and around the world. He was a mechanical civil engineer and Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile.
Roberto was an ISES member since 1979 and was on the ISES Board of Directors in 1991, 2010, 2012 and again since 2016. He was also an ISES Vice President of Membership Affairs 2011-2012. Roberto was responsible for International Outreach at the Solar Energy Research Center of Chile (SERC). He was also Chairman of the ISES Solar World Congress 2019 in Santiago. The Faculty of Engineering, University of Chile has posted this article in honour of Roberto's life and achievements (in Spanish). Roberto will be greatly missed. Our deepest condolences and sympathy go out to his family.
ISES President Dave Renné expressed his condolences on behalf of ISES, "On behalf of all of the ISES Board of Directors, it is with great sadness to learn of the passing of Prof. Roberto Román of the University of Chile, Santiago. Roberto has been a long term beloved colleague to ISES and to the entire renewable energy community. He has been a member of the ISES Board of Directors for many years, including this current term. He was instrumental in bringing the first ISES Solar Word Congress, together with the International Solar Heating and Cooling Conference, ever to be held in South America to Santiago this past November, fulfilling a vision he has had for years of securing this prestigious event in his home town. Despite his illness, he was able to participate in much of the Congress, and we were very honored and inspired with his presence. Roberto has had a significant influence on the growth of renewable energy in Chile, and his research has helped advance the use of solar technologies around the world. We express our deepest condolences to his wife, Cristy, and to all of his family and friends. The renewable energy community has lost a true pioneer, but we trust he continues to smile down upon us as we continue our work. He will not be forgotten."
 
Reflections on 2019
With this final newsletter of 2019, we take a moment to reflect back on the year and the many highlights it brought for the Society. We are thankful for all the support from ISES Members and Partners all over the world – your continued support allows us to further strengthen the voice of solar energy in a year that has proven to be both trying and crucial for the future of the world climate!

ISES staff and Board Members attended several events over the last 12 months, presenting ISES and the important role of solar energy.

We are especially proud of our successful Solar World Congress 2019 with held together with the IEA (International Energy Agency) Solar Heating and Cooling Programme (SHC) International Conference on Solar Heating and Cooling for Buildings and Industry in Santiago, Chile. We are especially grateful to our Local Organizing Committee in Chile and the deeply dedicated Congress Chair and ISES Board Member Prof. Roberto Róman. Hosting the Solar World Congress in South America for the first time and welcoming 422 participants from 48 countries, our solar community experienced first-hand the challenges brought upon by the creation of wealth powered by fossil fuels, income disparities, energy injustice, and environmental threats. These very real social and environmental challenges also became an important key element of this year’s Congress Proclamation as we strongly believe that renewable energy will make the socio-economic global revolution successful.
Throughout the year, we were able to implement several projects contributing to our vision and mission of 100% renewable energy for all, used efficiently and wisely.
This important message and especially the power of renewables working together was also once again highlighted at the important side-event we hosted at the COP25 in Madrid together with REN Alliance partners just earlier this month. Read more about the side-event here.
In spring, the ISES headquarters team, joined by Board Members, participated in the Intersolar Europe 2019 in Munich, Germany. Here, ISES Vice President Eicke Weber joined the Energy Watch Group as well as members of Fridays for Future, Parents for Future and Scientists for Future for a special event, speaking to the urgency of drastic measures bringing forth the energy transformation. On occasion of this event ISES issued a statement of support for Fridays For Future.
The Villa Tannheim, home to the ISES Headquarters in Freiburg, Germany received a much-needed fresh coat of paint and important maintenance works were successfully completed.
The Villa Tannheim has been the home of the ISES Headquarters since 1995. The building was completely renovated for ISES through an energy saving plan developed by our Silver Institution Member, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Those renovations resulted in annual savings of 27 tons of CO2. With the generous support of Mrs. Marta Weeks, ISES was able to acquire the building. The energy renovation plan was innovative for the time as special consideration was paid to the energy efficient renovation while maintaining it's historically look.
Spring time also brought the launch of the second Renewable Transformation Challenge, from Elsevier and ISES. Started in 2017, this bi-annual challenge, including a prize of €20,000, honours outstanding work that contributes to a world powered by renewable, accessible  energy for all. Over the summer months the judges and jury carefully reviewed over 100 applications received from all around the world and in late August, the winner was announced: the US-based team SUNSPOT and their solar-powered home cooking systems .
This year ISES was also honoured to present the 2019 ISES Awards to three outstanding recipients. The 2019 Farrington Daniels Award for outstanding intellectual leadership in the field of solar energy went to Lawrence L. Kazmerski at the ISES Solar World Congress in November 2019. Here too, the Achievement through Action Award in memory of Christopher A. Weeks was presented to Ricardo Rüther and the Global Leadership Award in Advancing Solar Energy Policy in honour of Hermann Scheer which was presented to Hans-Josef Fell.
Throughout the year worked hard on the second instalment of the ISES Infographics. Started only in 2018, to further strengthen the voice of renewable energy and to help all our members and supporters to successfully share the opportunities and possibilities of renewable energy, this publication series combines scientific facts on the possibilities of solar and renewable energy with informative graphics, providing a useful tool when communicating the many benefits of solar and renewable energy. After debunking eight commonly claimed shortcomings of renewable energy in the 2018 instalment, this year’s series was able to showcase how solar thermal heat for industry processes already makes up an important part in the production of every-day consumer products such as electronics, beverages and medicine, really highlighting the true value of solar energy in our everyday lives. The newest Infographics were released during the Solar World Congress 2019 in Santiago, Chile.
In September the current Board of Directors elected the new Executive Committee for the 2020-2021 term.
Prof. Klaus Vajen was elected as the incoming ISES President. He is director of the Institute of Thermal Engineering at the University of Kassel, Germany, where he holds the chair of Solar- and Systems Engineering. Also elected were Dr. Kemal Gani Bayraktar of Turkey as Vice President and  Dr. Viktoria Martin of Sweden as Secretary. Geoff Stapleton of Australia was re-elected as ISES Treasurer.
In November, the ISES members voted on the Board of Director for the 2020-2021 term. We were especially pleased with the high voter turnout in this election, with over 450 members casting their votes. Information about the new Board can be found here.
In the realm of publications, the distinguished Solar Energy journal continues to thrive with 18 issues in 2019 including 5 special issues. The Solar Energy impact factor also continues to increase, this year reaching 4.674.
The monthly ISES newsletters including the Sunburst columns, by ISES President Dave Renné, news from the society and our partners has been especially important to ISES to connect to our members and to share your news with the ISES network.
Throughout the year ISES brought you 9 webinars, including the second instalment of the webinar series “Women in Solar”, and 4 webinars together with the IEA Solar Heating and Cooling Program Solar Academy. We look forward to offering more webinars in 2020 on the topics relevant to and driving the transformation to 100% renewable energy.
 
Looking forward...
Looking forward to the new year, the team at the ISES Headquarters, together with the newly elected Executive Committee and Board Members, are excited to work to bring you several key events, more webinars and more opportunities to connect, learn and support the 100% renewable energy transformation. We look forward to the next EuroSun 2020 which will take place in Athens, Greece from 1 – 4 September so mark your calendars today. The call for papers will be released in January.
Also, we are looking forward to presenting a very special event from 2 – 4 December in Melbourne, Australia celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first ISES Solar World Congress. Join us the Century of Solar: Progress from the past 50 years and to accelerate the transformation to 100% renewable energy within the next 50 years. Since 1970, solar energy has grown from emerging technologies to a vibrant industry with a total installed capacity of 500 gigawatts of photovoltaics and a similar solar thermal heat generation capacity. The Century of Solar highlights this transformation in the global energy sector that has taken place since the first Solar World Congress in 1970 and looks forward to the next 50 years when solar energy will be a major cornerstone of the global energy system. The Century of Solar is about the people: researchers, industry players, policy makers and the research labs, manufacturers and private companies who have all contributed to make solar energy the fastest growing contributor to the energy mix. 

We want to wish you a wonderful and happy holiday season and a New Year 2020 full of peace and joy. Thank you for your support!

- International Solar Energy Society Headquarters Team -
 
 

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