Abu Dhabi, UAE: According to a news update available in the Masdar Institute website, more than 500 stakeholders from the industry, academia and government will come together to network and exchange information at the 22^nd Solar Power and Chemical Energy Systems (SolarPACES) Conference that will be co-hosted by the Institute, with the UAE Ministry of Energy, at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi.

To be held from October 11 to 14, 2016, the event, the news update said, “will include around 300 technical contributions (oral and poster) and 30 plenary talks by leading experts. It will be a forum for industry, research, political and financing stakeholders to discuss the future of concentrating solar energy, while offering an insight into new developments in technology, and the market presented by top experts in the field”.

According to the news update, the conference is organised each year by SolarPACES, an international cooperative network which focuses on the development and marketing of concentrating solar power (CSP) systems. The update further said that the event is one among a number of technology collaboration programs (TCPs) — managed under the umbrella of the International Energy Agency (IEA) — to help find solutions to worldwide energy problems.

The news update revealed that according to the conference organisers, a total of 500 abstracts have been submitted, of which 180 will be presented as oral presentations and about 200 as posters, with Masdar Institute faculty and students scheduled to present 17 abstracts.

“As the joint national host with the UAE Ministry of Energy, we are privileged to bring this key CSP conference to Abu Dhabi, which has become a key hub for clean and renewable energy,” Steve Griffiths, Vice President for Research, Masdar Institute, was quoted as saying by the website. “Solar power is the primary renewable energy resource for the Arabian Gulf region and will play an increasingly important role in meeting regional energy demand. This conference is central to knowledge exchange about solar energy and supports in continued innovation in the sector.”