Christian Schill

Job Title: Group Manager "PV Power Plants"
Company: Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE
Country: Germany

Since 2021, Christian Schill is group manager of 'Photovoltaic Power Plants' at Fraunhofer ISE, Germany, after stations at Freiburg Material Research Centre (FMF), PSE GmbH and the University of Freiburg. He is an alumni of the Sustainability Center Freiburg. He works in the fields of quality of PV power plants, outdoor weathering of PV modules, climate data and spatial analyses, with a focus on integrated PV and digitalization in the PV sector.

June 18, 2024IEA PVPS Task 13 Activity 2.4: Digitalisation in the PV Sector

Sessions

Session

Utility-scale Solar Power II: Digitalization in PV Power Plants - Enhancing O&M through Digital Twinning, Data and Process Integration

Tuesday, June 18, 2024, 04:30 pm - 06:00 pm

ICM München Room 14 B

The utility-scale segment is being digitized at a rapid pace. New digital tools make workflows along the PV power plant value chain more cost-effective: from development to operations and maintenance. A key concept in PV digitalization is the so-called digital twin, a digital representation of the physical PV plant that accurately simulates the performance of a solar system. A digital twin enables better failure detection and support of the O&M decision-making process. This session will discuss: The role of digitalization and digital twins in the solar power plant sector How digitalization can enhance O&M activities Need for full integration of data along the value chain of PV power plants Benefits, drawbacks and hurdles for digitalization in the utility-scale segment (panel debate)

Further Content

Intersolar Europe

The World’s Leading Exhibition for the Solar Industry

May 7–9, 2025

Intersolar Europe is the world’s leading exhibition for the solar industry and takes place annually at the Messe München

Publications

Download the Study "Energy Transition in the Context of Nuclear and Coal Phase-Out"

To avoid a shortfall in electricity generation, photovoltaics and storage must be greatly expanded in Germany.

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Speaker

Kyle David Ryan, RWE Renewables Europe & Australia GmbH

Senior Project Engineer, Solar Engineering

Germany

Mr. Kyle Ryan is a Senior Solar Engineer of RWE Renewables. He is responsible for coordinating project engineering activities and expertise during Development, Construction and Operation of solar photovoltaic plants, in Europe and Australia. He is also responsible for creating and maintaining specifications and processes to ensure quality and best practice in solar photovoltaic projects, across the international team. He has actively contributed to solar photovoltaic growth for the company, especially in the United Kingdom and Spain. He is now also the solar lead for hybrid plant design.