RWE Schott Solar Joins Japanese PV Association

Alzenau, Germany [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] Seeking a more effective international exchange of information and market analysis, RWE Schott Solar is now a member of the Japanese Photovoltaic Energy Association (JPEA). The company has had a representative in the JPEA since as early as 2001, in the form of its Japanese cooperation partner, Kobe Steel, Ltd but was seeking a larger presence in the organization.

“This move means we can now be actively involved in the decision processes,” said Winfried Hoffmann, Spokesman for the Board at RWE Schott Solar and current President of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) in Brussels, the European sister of the JPEA. RWE Schott Solar Group is already a member of the US Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA), represented by its US subsidiary RWE Schott Solar. This expansion is part of the company targeting the most promising solar markets throughout the world. “Thus we are represented in the industrial associations of the world’s three largest markets,” Hoffmann said. Alongside the national and regional subjects on research and market developments, common international topics are increasingly being discussed at association level, according to the company. Only last year the three associations founded a global PV industrial forum at the European PV Conference held in Paris. This represents a platform for discussing the introduction of common standards and statistics, coordinating lobbying activities and considering R&D targets. Hoffmann said he was convinced that “such major topics as globalization and environmental protection make international cooperation ever more important — even for the PV solar energy sector.”