SUPERNOVA will organise three R&I workshops at Solar Quality Summit Europe 2026

BRUSSELS, Belgium (Tuesday 3rd February 2026): From 17-18 February 2026, SUPERNOVA, the Horizon Europe funded project aiming to establish quality and a high-performance for solar PV projects, will organise three sessions at the Solar Quality Summit Europe 2026 conference in Barcelona.

Lukas Koester, SUPERNOVA Project Coordinator, Researcher and Team Leader at Eurac Research said; “The Solar Quality Summit brings together the right people to discuss quality where it truly matters – under real-world conditions. After nearly two years into the Horizon Europe project SUPERNOVA, the Solar Quality Summit provides the ideal forum to present our mid-term highlights. We will showcase recent advances in predictive maintenance, advanced forecasting, cross-platform data management, and AI integration. We are looking forward to exchanging directly with the sector on how to build and operate more resilient and high-quality solar PV systems.”

The first workshop, ‘AI Agents in PV plant-integrated monitoring systems,’ will take place on 17 February, from 2.40 – 3.40pm. The session will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) agents can enhance solar PV plant monitoring, with insights from the SUPERNOVA project as well as from Becquerel Institute Italia, provided through a selection of presentations and group exercises. Lukas Koester will moderate the session, which will also feature:

• Elena Petrova, Project Manager, SAIDEA
• David Moser, Managing Director, Becquerel Institute
• Nicola Avancini, Software Developer, SAIDEA

SUPERNOVA’s second session, ‘Predictive Maintenance in Action,’ will take place on 17 February, from 4.10 – 5.25pm. It will showcase next-generation tools that are redefining solar asset operation and maintenance, like environmental sensors on tracker systems that automatically trigger weather-driven safety actions. Lukas Koester will lead this discussion, where he will be joined by:

• Will Hitchcock, Founder and CEO, Above
• Ricardo Alonso, Manager of Renewable Energy O&M Platform, Tecnalia Research & Innovation
• Chiara Barretta, Researcher, Sustainable Polymer Solutions, PCCL
• Andrea Monni, Programme, Quality and Process Manager, Convert Italia

SUPERVNOVA’s third panel discussion, ‘Next-Gen Forecasting: AI-Driven Solar & Grid Predictions,’ will take place on 18 February, from 10.05 – 11.20am. It will highlight the latest AI-model developments from Google, NVIDIA, and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and examine how these breakthroughs are reshaping short- and medium-term weather forecasting.  The discussion will be moderated by Grazia Barchi, Team Leader and Senior Researcher, at Eurac Research. It will also feature insights from:

• Pierre-Jean Alet, Group Leader, Digital Energy Solutions, CSEM
• Oriol Saltó i Bauzà, Associate Partner, Chief Data Scientist, AleaSoft
• Masaaki Hasegawa, General Director, EKO instruments

Notes:

• SUPERNOVA is a three and a half year Horizon Europe funded project which aims to increase the operation & maintenance (O&M) and grid-friendliness of solar PV plants thanks to advanced software solutions that are evolving the planning, design, and operation of solar PV systems. The project will take a multi-layered approach, integrating individual solutions into interoperable digital platforms, and utilise the power of AI tools to efficiently manage, and control huge amounts of data. SUPERNOVA will also focus on data sharing as a means of creating mutual benefit for providers and users. SolarPower Europe is responsible for communications on the project.

• A joint offering from Intersolar Europe and SolarPower Europe, the Solar Quality Summit Europe annual event, brings together leading members of the O&M, Asset Management, and Engineering, Procurement and Construction communities, to advance the long-term quality of Europe’s solar projects.

SUPERNOVA workshop at Solar Quality Summit 2025 © Joan Gosa