Organizers of the 34th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC) have reported the highest conference attendance numbers in the history of the event.

This year, 1,348 scientists, policy-makers, industry executives, and others-excluding exhibitors-attended the PVSC, slightly higher than last year and nearly double the number of attendees of the preceding IEEE PVSC in Orlando, Fla. in 2005.

The 2009 PVSC chairman Tim Anderson, distinguished professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Florida, said, "In contrast to the many other industry conferences that have been crippled this year by the global recession, we think the turnout of the global solar community for the 2009 PVSC is a clear indication that the prospects for solar energy have never been brighter."

Anderson added, "Academia, industry and policy are aligned and continue to press along and rapidly advance the industry."

This year's PVSC was held in Philadelphia in June and was co-located with Solar Energy Industries Association's PV America. The PVSC's keynote speakers included Penn. Gov. Edward G. Rendell, DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy CTO Dr. Sam Baldwin, Deutsche Bank Senior Analyst Stephen O'Rourke, among many others.

There were 140 exhibitors and 654 technical presentations on topics ranging from various solar technologies, to modules and system components, to space technologies, manufacturing, materials, testing and much more.

The 35th IEEE PVSC will take place in June 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Technical abstracts will be accepted beginning in October, with a deadline of Feb. 15, 2010. Exhibitor and attendee registration will open in March 2010. A Web site for the conference will be available soon.