New EU project to increase performance and reliability of solar PV components and systems

A new EU project, TRUST-PV will support the development of O&M-friendly and grid-friendly solar PV components and solutions in large portfolios of distributed and utility scale PV.

The TRUST-PV innovations will be tested and demonstrated from fab to field, with all data gathered along the value chain flowing into a decision support system platform that uses AI and is based on and beyond Industry 4.0 concepts. TRUST-PV is industrially driven, gathering 20 organisations from across the entire solar PV value chain.

The TRUST-PV consortium is comprised of the following project partners: 3E, Above Surveying, BayWa r.e., DSM, Enel Green Power, Eurac Research, FOSS Research Centre for Sustainable Energy, Huawei, Imec, Inaccess, INNOSEA, PVcase, Saidea, Solarcentury, SolarPower Europe, Solar Monkey, Raptech, Reuniwatt, TU Delft, TÜV Rheinland Energy GmbH. The TRUST-PV project is 4 years in duration and over €12m in grant value.

“TRUST-PV is driven by a push-pull approach between stakeholders operating in well-defined and separated phases of a PV project, who usually work with only their main objectives in mind and have little to no influence on other stakeholders. TRUST-PV represents a paradigm shift by including the demands of other stakeholders in the decision-making process to produce, for instance, O&M-friendly PV system components. The innovation at system level will fully exploit the digitalisation of the PV sector by linking 3D design with BIM concepts, developing more accurate models for yield assessments, and closing the gap between performance and failure detection through monitoring and field inspection.” – David Moser, Project Coordinator, Eurac Research

“We are pleased to support the TRUST-PV project, which takes advantage of the synergies between solar PV and digitalisation. TRUST-PV will have an impact in terms of increase in performance, reliability, and remuneration of PV systems in the utility scale and residential sector, as well as in their utility-friendly integration. The project’s objectives are in line and will contribute towards the expected impacts of the PV Implementation Plan within the SET-Plan. TRUST-PV will also work towards the objective of a circular economy, a priority of the European Commission.” – Francesca Harris, Project Manager in charge of TRUST-PV at the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA)

“SolarPower Europe is delighted to be part of TRUST-PV along with 20 other project partners including leading research institutes and businesses from the solar community. The EU solar sector is strategic for reaching the European Green Deal’s goals, and closing the gap between performance and failure detection of solar plants will increase the efficiency of this technology. As SolarPower Europe, we will support the dissemination of the project’s results in the solar community through industry-led best practice guidelines, events, and working groups.” – Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N952957. The information reflects only the project’s view and the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.