SWC 2021 Welcome Message

Dave Renné - SWC 2021 Congress Chair

Welcome to the International Solar Energy Society Solar World Congress (SWC) 2021! 

The virtual Congress will take place online during the week of 25-29 October 2021. As with previous recent ISES Congresses we are again pleased to announce that the International Energy Agency’s Solar Heating and Cooling Programme will be a Key Partner of this Congress.

This is the first time ISES has held its Solar World Congress as an online event. Nevertheless, as with other recent Congresses, SWC 2021 will connect the scientific and research community with renewable energy decision makers, developers, financers, and practitioners to highlight key technology advances that are taking place in the broad field of solar and renewable energy.

The core of the Congress will be its Scientific Program, which highlights innovations and advances over a broad range of themes covering perspectives on achieving 100% Renewables, solar electric and solar thermal technologies, storage technologies and grid integration issues, power-to-renewable fuels, building architecture and urban design, and energy meteorology.  We encourage you to review this website and contribute to the Congress with your latest work in one or more of these thematic areas. All oral presentations will be prerecorded and made available in advance of the Congress to registered participants. The actual technical program will then consist of parallel tracks over several days where the authors of oral presentations will be available to give a brief summary of their work and to respond to questions and hold an interactive live dialogue with the Congress participants. There will also be designated poster sessions, and opportunities for registered participants to interact with poster presenters.

Each day the Congress will also feature a variety of plenary speeches and parallel theme-related keynote addresses. These speeches will be either recorded or presented live. The typical format of a plenary session will feature 2-3 distinguished speakers discussing a topic of broad interest, followed by an opportunity for interactive dialogue with Congress participants. A variety of other unique events will also be offered during the week; we will keep you updated on this web site as the Congress program develops.

ISES’ vision of 100% renewable energy for all, used efficiently and wisely, is particularly critical today as the challenges of climate change become an ever-growing threat to society.  Our energy system is already experiencing a major transformation towards a carbon-free future thanks to strong public demand and to the efforts of national and reginal governments as well as grass-root activists, not to mention the dramatic drop in renewable technology costs we have witnessed over the past decade. But further urgent action to decarbonize our energy system is essential, and SWC 2021 will address how we can address the key challenges to achieve rapidly a total transformation to 100% renewables. So, I along with the rest of the International Organizing Committee and the Scientific Committee extend a warm invitation to you to join us in October, either as a speaker or an attendee.

See you online on 25-29 October 2021!

Dr. David Renné, SWC 2021 Congress Chair