Keynote speech 1: Advanced solar energy conversion technologies to enable smart-grid deployment

In recent years, significant research progress has been made in advancing photovoltaic energy conversion technologies. This progress has resulted in more and more countries consider deploying smart-grid technologies. Unfortunately, Jordan and the MENA region in general have not kept pace with these developments. There is a need in Jordan to move forward with necessary practical and policy decisions to use and deploy such energy saving technologies. Today's PV installations focus mainly on solar energy conversion, control and grid connectivity technologies. This talk will focus on recent advancement in power electronics inverters for PV energy conversion and how the new solar energy conversion technologies may incorporate smart-grid capabilities in distributed PV systems. Also, why Jordan has great potential to embrace such new technologies.