Prof. Makoto Konagai, PVSEC IAC ChairThe International Photovoltaic Science and Engineering Conference (PVSEC) was established in 1984 as an opportunity for participants to present and discuss problems concerning solar power generation—specifically, the basic properties of the photovoltaic effect, solar cell materials and processes, solar cell modules and peripherals, and photovoltaic systems, as well as measures for popularizing solar power generation. The aim of the conference was to contribute to developing scholarship in relevant fields (from fundamental understanding to application) and enriching society.
The PVSEC was positioned as an international conference to be held in the Asia-Pacific region, in addition to the existing international conferences on solar power generation held separately in the USA (IEEE PVSC) and Europe (EU-PVSEC). The PVSEC has been held twenty-four times between 1984 and 2014.
The website for each PVSEC has always been managed by the organizing committee running the conference in the host country, and closed after the conference ended. This meant that people wishing to look back at the circumstances of past conferences were unable to access the data. We therefore took the decision to relaunch the entire PVSEC website, and as well as posting past records, we will publicize the schedule for future conferences on the website at the earliest opportunity.
The PVSEC must bring together a wide range of R&D professionals and experts from industry, academia, and public institutions, and through lively discussions, provide an excellent opportunity for participants to consider and devise ways of making academic progress in this field and creating new energy systems for society. We are especially hopeful that students and young researchers, who are the future of society, will actively participate in the PVSEC and contribute to relevant fields. We hope that this website will be useful to many researchers involved in photovoltaics.

The 6th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-6), held in Kyoto, Japan,
has won the international conference contribution award from the Japan National Tourist Organization.
More information (Japanese only)

The prize was awarded in December 2015. On behalf of the conference organizing committee,
general chair of the conference, Prof. Makoto Konagai (2nd row, 2nd from the right in the photo)
received a memorial shield from the JNTO .