Societies throughout the world need to actively engage in working on renewable alternatives for covering their growing energy needs for a sustainable future. Among the several options available, the young team of researchers at the International Solar Energy Research Center Konstanz e.V. (ISC Konstanz) focusses on photovoltaics (PV), especially on the research and development of silicon solar cells. Yet, climate change is not only a problem to be approached by technological means. It is also connected to social questions. Therefore, the ISC Konstanz engages in spreading photovoltaic knowledge and technology through education in Germany and abroad, and through projects in the developing world. In addition, as a research institute, we study the social and technological conditions for success and failure of PV projects in those regions.
In our development cooperation, we conduct ISC Konstanz projects as well as cooperation projects with selected partners and the public sector. With clean solar energy, we aim at expanding local value chains; ISC Konstanz also supports the work of institutions in the health sector, and in education and capacity building. We conduct research on effects of social and climatic conditions on PV projects in development cooperation, and publish its results. For project partners, we provide independent expertise, based on both, our practical experience and our research. Recent ISC Konstanz projects are located in sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, and South America.