PV Infrastructure 1993+ and new Test Facilities for Education and Research

In 1989, the worldwide first monetary “feed-in tariff” scheme for electricity from photovoltaics (PV) fed into the grid was invented and introduced in Burgdorf (Switzerland). Ten years before, in the late 1970s, (telecommunication) companies like Hasler AG in the Swiss capital of Bern had already con-ducted pioneering PV research. Here, we illustrate how innovative industry research in the region and pioneering governmental policy has interlinked with electrical engineering education at Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) in Burgdorf (Switzerland) since the 1990s.