Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development
Energy: ENEA presides over International Solar Conference
SolarPACES Conference to be held in October in Rome
ENEA will preside over the 30th SolarPACES[1] conference, the world’s leading event for concentrated solar thermal technologies which will take place this year in Rome (8 - 11 October 2024). Luca Turchetti, ENEA researcher at the Energy Technologies and Renewable Sources Department, was designated chairperson of the event, which has been attended by representatives from research, industry and institutions from around the world since the first edition in 1982.
“I am truly happy Italy is hosting the SolarPACES conference, which returns to Europe after over a decade. Our country boasts a considerable solar capacity, among the highest in Europe, and a consolidated history of research, experiments and demonstrations in the field of concentrated solar thermal, from the pioneering work of Giovanni Francia in the 1960s to the creation, in 2010, of the first demonstration plant in Sicily, unique at the time, based on the innovative technologies developed at ENEA", said Turchetti.
In ENEA since 2012, Turchetti has twenty years of experience in process engineering. Since 2020 he has been the Italian delegate in the executive committee of SolarPACES, the technological collaboration program of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on concentrated solar thermal energy. Since 2022 he has been the coordinator of the "Integrated Hydrogen Technologies Project", an ENEA, RSE and Cnr research program on hydrogen-related technologies, from production to transport and storage, up to end uses.
“A first innovative small-scale commercial plant recently came into operation in Italy and a second is nearing completion. However, new support policies are needed to accelerate the implementation of concentrated solar thermal and achieve the objectives of the PNIEC. The conference will act as a stimulus and a tool to communicate messages and indications: the forum, in fact, will be the place where research, industry and political decision-makers exchange ideas, build networks and lay the foundations for new projects and initiatives", said Turchetti.
To submit the abstracts (deadline April 26): solarpaces-conference.org.