Sede Boker, Israel -- Leading lights in solar energy from around the world will meet July 12-13, in Sede Boker, Israel, for the Ninth Sede Boker Symposium on Solar Electricity Production at the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research.
The symposium is a forum for the discussion of solar-power generation projects from around the world in addition to the ground-breaking work being done in Israel. The director and founder of the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, BGU Professor David Faiman, believes solar energy could be harnessed to solve the world's energy problems in his lifetime. "We have the technology today to provide all of Israel's electricity needs," he says. "It's just a matter of money and political will."
Faiman is in the final stages of testing what will be the world's largest solar dish. Other projects at the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center include the development of high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells using a new carbon material.
The Center is also working with agricultural communities in Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Autonomy to put together a large photovoltaic system to convert solar energy into electricity. Each village will have part of the system, which is being designed by Arab and Israeli scientists. Arab and Israeli users of the system will meet to exchange know-how and share problem-solving techniques. The Israeli component of the project is a 200-kilowatt photovoltaic power station the Center is helping to construct at Kibbutz Samar in the Arava. This photovoltaic power station will be the largest in Israel and the least expensive to operate in the world.
About 100 experts from all over the word will participate in the Sede Boker Symposium.
For more information contact: Professor David Faiman by telephone at 972-7-659-6933, by fax at 972-7-659-6736, or by email at faiman@bgumail.bgu.ac.il or call Myra Cohen, Director of Public Relations, American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev at 1-800-962-2284 ext. 209.