The vision of this project is to partner for the integration of applied research and development projects at the Solar Universities in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, combined with establishing and strengthening contacts with the German and European PV industry and with leading PV research and educational institutions in Germany and the EU.

In the course of this, the topic of PV cell and module optimisation was selected as one of the three priority topics of cooperation in the Solar Universities Network for 2026, as identified by the partner universities at an online workshop in 2025.  The desire was expressed to jointly develop tailor-made innovative modules that deliver optimal performance under the respective regional environmental conditions. Preliminary work by the universities is to be used for this purpose. By combining standardised tests and targeted adaptation, the efficiency, reliability and service life of PV modules should be significantly improved, which will ultimately strengthen the competitiveness of the solar industry in the region and accelerate and secure the local energy transition.

Together with TSTU and other Solar Universities, a project proposal was drawn up in December and January and submitted last week to a German funding agency as part of a call for proposals. A response from the funding agency is expected in the summer as to whether the project will be financed and can therefore start at the end of the year or in early 2027.