BIO

Prof. Dr. Sandro Nižetić is a Full Professor at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (FESB) at University of Split (Croatia). His research is in the field of thermodynamics, energy, energy efficiency in buildings, smart technologies and renewable energy sources. He has twenty years of the teaching experience and from 2005 he is an ASHRAE member and also ASHRAE student branch advisor at University of Split. He has worked on various projects related to the implementation of energy efficiency measures in public buildings under the auspices of UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). He was also the head of the several national research’s projects. He also served as a Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Construction and Spatial Planning in the Croatian government, and as Vice Dean of Research at home institution (FESB). Prof. Dr. Nižetić has organized and chaired several international conferences (IEES, ICH2P, SpliTech, ICRIC, GCGW-21, PRES-22 etc). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Energy Sources Part A (Taylor&Francis), Associate Editor of the Solar Energy Journal (Elsevier) and Subject Editor of Energy (Elsevier) journal. He is editorial board member of different reputable journals such as: Energy and Buildings (Elsevier), Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy (Springer), International Journal of Sustainable Energy (Taylor&Francis), etc. Prof. Dr. Nižetić has published over 200 research and conference papers, as well as several techno-economic professional case studies and has visited several research and educational institutions worldwide as visiting researcher or as visiting lecturer. He has organized over thirty SI in various reputable journals. For his research work he received several major awards including the Croatian State Prize for the research for 2016 and 2021, as well as also Rector prize for the research from the University of Split for 2018, 2020 and 2023. Based on the Stanford and Elsevier ranking list he was among 2% of the World's top cited scientist in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 for single year and overall career. He is member of Croatian Academy of Engineering.

ABSTRACT

Currently, the leading globally installed worldwide renewable energy capacities are related to the photovoltaic technologies (PV). Present market available PV technologies are mostly silicon based one, which are the oldest ones, however they are the most reliable and with favourable economic aspect. To secure further desired rise of in installed PV capacities the progresses toward performance improvement is necessary. However, the novel possible application areas for current PV technologies should be also extended to meet global targets regarding overall installed PV capacities world-wide, considering ongoing energy transition. Present status of the market available PV technologies will be discussed, together with some novel PV technologies that are still under ongoing research, however with potential for future possible market implementation. The issues related to the PV waste and recycling will be also discussed and highlighted as plays also an important role.