Imola, December 4, 2009 - Elettronica Santerno, an Italian leading company specialising in designing and manufacturing solar inverters, has founded the first Italian Photovoltaic Academy. This is a unique Academy in Italy, involving over 40 engineers and specialists in photovoltaics, from the CESI (Centro Elettrotecnico Sperimentale Italiano, the Italian Experimental Electrotechnics Centre), the Politecnico in Turin and Emerson Network Power.

The Italian Photovoltaic Academy has been founded to gather technicians and specialists from the main Italian companies and design agencies developing photovoltaic solutions. The scope of the Photovoltaic Academy is mainly to find out prompt solutions to the ever increasing demands concerning scientific trials of brand new technologies applied to renewable energies.

Thanks to its proprietary know-how and excellent knowledge of the most advanced plant engineering technologies and power electronics boasting over 500 MW PV plants installed in Italy and abroad, Elettronica Santerno is backed by the major Italian Universities and research centres such as the Italian National Research Council and ENEA (National Council for New Technology, Energy and the Environment). This led Santerno to offer the best training path addressed to lecturers, researchers, technicians, engineers and specialists in photovoltaic applications.

Elettronica Santerno—officially recognized since 1987 as a “Highly Qualified Laboratory” by MIUR (the Italian Ministry of Education and Research)—is intending to invest its knowledge and expertise in the development of new technologies in cooperation with Cegos, an excellent partner in the field of managerial training, and with Emerson Network Power, a global leading company in precision conditioning, also the financial backer of the Academy.

The first step of the Academy programme consists in three meetings, including lectures and round tables, in Turin, Rome and Bari, with the intent of gathering the most important representatives from all over Italy.

Following the very success of the first meeting in Turin, the meeting recurrence has been made closer in order to realize the first Web 2.0 platform for exchanging data and sharing knowledge and expertise, as well as sharing the contribution of each member of the Academy belonging to the scientific and technologic community.

Thanks to the increasing development in renewable energy solutions, Italy represents the ideal lab and the development platform for the whole Mediterranean basin, thus including the Countries that are expected to have the largest development in photovoltaics.

“Italy has a number of qualified research centres and Universities operating in the field of photovoltaic energy; all of them are acknowledged on the international level. Nevertheless, those labs can only partially reproduce what happens on the field – says Mr. Franco Valentini, the Marketing Director of Elettronica Santerno. For that reason, the over 900 MW of PV plants already installed in Italy shall become the natural cradle of applied knowledge. It is therefore necessary to disclose this “natural” lab to the researchers whilst appreciating the contribution of the design engineers and specialists offering their expertise. This can be done quite easily as the most part of the PV plants are monitored via our Web portal”.

“The south of Italy can easily become the reference benchmark for any photovoltaic application typical of the Mediterranean basin. Thanks to its diverse morphological and climatic features, Italy is the ideal pilot country for Southern Europe and the Mediterranean Countries – states Mr. Marco Tecchio, CEO of Elettronica Santerno. We are addressing to Greece, Turkey, North Africa and Israel. But Italy can also be the benchmark for foreign Countries having similar climatic features, such as California, Nevada or some regions in China”.

“I am certain that the Italian Photovoltaic Academy, proudly promoted by Elettronica Santerno, will reach very important results on the global level – concludes Mr. Tecchio. Joining together the most accredited specialists in scientific research and plant engineering in Italy but also abroad—if we consider the contribution of multinational companies with their premises in Italy—means embarking on a new fundamental market segment that will lead to the development of more and more efficient, top quality and environmental-friendly  solutions”.