The 34th IEEE PVSC wrapped up with six oral sessions in two groups of three, followed by a closing ceremony where student award winners and poster winners were announced.
In the Area 1 early session, Joseph Berry of NREL described pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of various oxides for use in simple Ag/P3HT/oxide/ITO devices. The addition of high resistivity materials such as highly resistive ZnO and TiO2 generally decreased the current and increased the voltage of the device. Several alternatives were explored including Ga doped ZnO. While a simple Ga doped layer was detrimental, a graded conductivity resulted in improved performance. Malcolm Chisholm from The Ohio State University presented a new pathway through metallated oligothiophenes for augmenting organic PV absorption by extending it toward the infrared. Tailoring of the metal-metal quadruple bonds permitted tuning of the absorption. Vaishali Koppolu from the University of Virginia presented work on new electron accepting functionalized fullerenes that provide greater Voc and enhanced infrared absorption in an organic PV cell.
In Area 2, Sophie Gledhill from the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin reported on using ILGAR to deposit In2S3 buffer layers for chalcopyrite CIGS solar cells. She has achieved device efficiencies of 14.7% small-area and 12.4% in 100-cm2 mini-modules. This has the potential for an in-line 
process and scale-up to a pilot plant with intended module areas of 1.1x1.4 m2 is underway. This is significant to scaling up CIGS at increasing module-level efficiencies.
In Area 7 Michael Quintana described studies of the performance of inverters in test arrays located at Sandia National Laboratory. The objective of the study was to determine potential degradation of the inverters. The results showed that the inverters tested did not degrade significantly (roughly 0.7% to date) even though they were mounted facing south in full sun, an arrangement that is not recommended for maximization of inverter lifetime.
Michael Fife from PVPowered reported initial results on a system availability analysis for a MW-size PV plant. This talk was followed by Elmer Collins of Sandia National Labs demonstrating the results of a system-level reliability and availability model for large scale PV plants. Each showed results based on statistical analyses and failure data. These two analyses demonstrate that the PV community is beginning to fill the need for statistical modeling of reliability to predict availability, crucial to utility usage of PV power plants.
Later in the day James Gee of Advent Solar described an improved contact technology for mounting Si solar cells with back contacts based on the approaches that have emerged from the Si microelectronics industry. The incorporation of patterned Cu metallization into the back-sheet combined with protective and insulating layers allowed cells to be efficiently interconnected. Gee also noted how the results of the work at Sandia on non-destructive evaluation techniques presented by Enrico Quintana had provided Advent with the information needed to improve their MMA technique to reach efficiencies between 14% and 18% based on various crystalline silicon cells. A 16.6% efficient module was produced based on a double sided UMG cell. The approach was shown to reduce series resistance losses in the module resulting in a 1% power loss due to the encapsulation.
Adrianne Kimber of SunPower described system level tests that are 
important to qualifying a solar array prior to handoff. She made the point that the process of rating can affect the outcomes. She recommended an alternate procedure to the standard method developed for PVUSA that provides lower noise in the tests. The recommendations included using a low mass reference cell, which has a spectral sensitivity closer to that of the device being qualified than a pyrometer, and to take data on clear days only if possible. This was shown to significantly reduce noise in the data and to provide effective qualification at low light levels, which is not typically obtained in the standard test, which functions well only in high light measurements.
In Area 1 Dr. Peshek of the Arizona State University described the pulsed laser deposition of ZnGeAs2 as an alternative to In or Ga containing materials. He made the point that Zn loss at deposition temperature is common so the target composition has to be adjusted to account for this. The best solution was proposed to be annealing the material after deposition at a high temperature. A superstrate device was produced with a 125 mV Voc.
In the Area 4 session S. Eisele from the University of Stuttgart reported an efficiency of 18.9% on a 4-cm2 p-type silicon solar cell using laser doping to form a full-area, phosphorous-doped emitter. He also showed that laser doping could be used to form a selective emitter in an industrial process with an improvement of +0.4% absolute in efficiency with only one additional step in the process.
Finally the conference wrapped up with a summary, announcements of upcoming conferences, and awards for the best student presentations and best posters. Andreas Bett welcomed everyone to attend the European PVSEC conference to be held in September 2009 in Hamburg and Sewang Yoon invited everyone to participate in the 19th International PVSEC to be held in November 2009 in Jeju, Korea. Finally, the inaugural ‘Wine and Napkin’ award was presented to Paul Sharps as a member of the organizing committee for his contributions to enhancing the technical quality of the conference.
Tim Anderson described a variety of new features at the 34th PVSC. These included co-location with SEIA’s PV America conference, presentations to be made available to attendees with the permission of authors, increased interaction with IEEE including a membership drive, an enhanced scope of the education program, more use of external organizers, expanded publicity efforts, and changes initiated at the 33rd PVSC.
The 34th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference set records for attendance and contributions with 1348 total attendees from 42 countries, 42 states, and the District of Colombia. There were 654 presentations including 321 oral and 333 poster presentations. 140 exhibitors presented at the show and over 120 attendees participated in the Sun Run 5 km race. There were 490 registrants in the tutorial sessions with most attending the most general topics of characterization and the introduction to photovoltaic devices. Even Benjamin Franklin attended.
Special thanks go to Tim Anderson, General Conference Chair, Robert Walters, Program Chair, the Area Chairs for Areas 1-9; Steve Ringel, Rommel Noufi, Mark Stan, Stuart Bowden, Steve Hegedus, Scott Messenger, Carl Osterwald, Terry Jester, and John Benner, respectively, to Larry Kazmerski who organized both the Cherry Conference luncheon session and the 5k Sun Run, and to Dave Wilt (Treasurer), Cecile Warner (Publications), Rob Collins (Operations), Paul Sharps and Mehran Arbab (Posters), and Bill Shafarman (Tutorials). John Martin and Patrick Park (Exhibits), B.J. Stanbery (Industrial Liaison), Moe Forestieri, Conference Administrator), Richard King (Secretary), Brent Nelson (Webmaster), Wendy Larsen (Registration), Ryne Raffaelle and Jennifer Granata (Publications), Martha Symko-Davies (School Program), Richard Swanson (International Committee chair), Jeff Gray (Student Coordinator), and a special thanks (editorial note) to Angus Rockett who produced these highlights. Thanks also go to Adam Kohm and the staff of SPLTrak, and to all of the others who made the meeting a success.
