The team visited the Almería Solar Platform (PSA, for its Spanish acronym), the Odeillo Solar Laboratory in France, and the International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz (ISC) in Germany. An agreement was signed with the ISC to establish a joint research program.

Fifteen researchers from the Solar Energy Center (SERC Chile) traveled to Spain, France, and Germany between May 3 and 11 on a technology mission to learn about the state-of-the-art in solar energy research at some of Europe’s most important research centers. The SERC Chile representatives visited the Almería Solar Platform (PSA) in Spain; the Solar Laboratory in Odeillo, France; and the International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz (ISC) in Germany. SERC Chile is a FONDAP research center, established by CONICYT and led by Professor Rodrigo Palma of the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Chile, and it collaborates with the University of Tarapacá, the University of Antofagasta, the University of Concepción, and Fundación Chile.

Almería, a semi-arid region similar to Chile's Norte Chico, is the birthplace of solar energy in Spain and one of the places where current technology is being developed for global application.

At that location, the SERC Chile delegation was welcomed by PSA Director Sixto Malato and by the director of Solar Energy Environmental Applications, Julían Blanco, who, along with a team of collaborators, showed the Chilean delegation the various facilities and projects being developed there. Adjacent to the PSA is the Advanced Technology Center for Renewable Energies (CTAER, for its Spanish acronym), where the delegation had the opportunity to learn about the innovative Central Tower, which features mobile heliostats.

In France, the researchers visited Odeillo, home to the world’s largest solar furnace, as well as other state-of-the-art research facilities dedicated to the application of solar energy. At the end of the visit, the parties agreed to begin developing joint ventures together.

In Germany, the final stop on the tour, the SERC researchers visited the ISC Laboratory in Konstanz, which specializes in the production of high-performance photovoltaic cells. There, SERC Chile Director Rodrigo Palma and Radovan Kopecek, General Director of Advanced Cell Concepts and a member of the ISC Executive Committee, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a joint research program and human capital development initiatives, among other shared activities.

The mission to Europe included a visit by two members of the photovoltaic cells and semiconductors development group at the University of Marburg in Germany.