Utility-Scale Solar Power III: Impacts of Extreme Weather on PV Power Plants

Dr. Laurie Burnham is a principal member of the technical staff and a photovoltaics researcher at Sandia National Laboratories, where she leads multiple multi-institutional and multi-year efforts to improve the long-term performance and reliability of our nation's solar sector. Her current projects include research on the short- and long-term impacts of wildfires, extreme weather events and electrical-system failures on PV power plants. In addition, she oversees the US DOE Regional Test Centers for Emerging Solar Technologies, which support cross-climate studies of new components and systems; chairs the Photovoltaic Collaborative to Advance Multi-climate Performance and Energy Research (PV CAMPER), a 12-member global organization; leads an International Energy Agency subtask on extreme weather and photovoltaics; and chairs Sandia's newly formed Solar Industry Advisory Board.

Leonardo Micheli is an Associate Professor at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). He earned his PhD in Renewable Energy from the University of Exeter (UK). Over the years, he has investigated various topics related to photovoltaic (PV), addressing both foundational knowledge and practical challenges faced by industry. His research areas include PV and floating PV systems analysis and modeling, with a strong focus on soiling and PV loss minimization. He has received national and European research grants and has been listed among the top 2% of researchers worldwide in Stanford University's global database since 2022.

Jonathan Leloux began his solar energy adventures in 2005 and has since worked in the field of solar photovoltaic energy as an engineer, researcher, consultant, and entrepreneur. His expertise is focused on photovoltaic (PV) system engineering, encompassing residential distributed PV and large-scale PV plants, bifacial PV, agrivoltaics, BIPV, floating PV, CPV, and solar resource assessment. He holds an Engineering Degree in Mining and Geology and a PhD in Solar Photovoltaic Energy Systems. He is a co-founder and the managing director of LuciSun, which provides technical guidance through consulting services and products to actors in the solar energy sector across all project phases, including early design, PV engineering, financing, construction, commissioning, and operation. As part of his role at LuciSun, he is actively involved in several research projects at national, European and international levels, along with other team members, ensuring that the company's initiatives are closely integrated with the latest advancements in solar technology. He participates in the IEA PVPS Programme Tasks 13 on PV System Performance and Task 15 on BIPV.

Thore Müller is a specialist in PV soiling and performance optimization with over seven years of experience in yield assessment and climate risk modeling for utility-scale PV plants. He is the founder and CEO of PVRADAR, a modeling framework that combines a Python Package, Data Depot, and Web Application to build complex performance models and share results across organizations. Thore is focused on enabling data-driven decisions for solar asset owners and developers. He holds engineering degrees from the Universities of Munich and Aachen.

Eng. Giosuè Maugeri is a photovoltaic researcher at RSE S.p.A., where he has been working since 2011. He leads the RSE PV Test Lab, coordinating research activities focused on PV reliability and performance efficiency, with a particular emphasis on developing tools for remote fault detection and diagnosis in utility-scale PV systems. His expertise extends to emerging PV applications such as agrivoltaics, floating PV, and solar tracking systems. As Deputy Task Manager of the International Energy Agency's PVPS Task 13 on PV Performance and Reliability, he represents Italy in international research efforts aimed at improving PV system performance and durability. His work contributes to advancing innovative solutions that enhance the sustainability and efficiency of solar energy technologies.

Ulrike Jahn is a graduate physicist and works as a scientific group leader in the Photovoltaic Systems and Integration department at the Fraunhofer Center for Silicon Photovoltaics CSP in Halle, Germany. Her work focusses on the diagnosis and reliability of PV systems. She is project manager of an international expert group, Task 13 of the PVPS programme of the International Energy Agency (IEA), which deals with technical and economic aspects of the reliability and performance of PV systems. She has been coordinating this network of currently 185 international experts in 25 countries since 2010.