The 31th edition of the SolarPACES conference took place from September 22 to 27, 2025, in Almeria, Spain.

Conference highlights

• This year, the conference chair was a woman for the first time ever! Many thanks and kudos Arantxa Fernández García for hosting us!
• We saw many women as presenters and session chairs, as well as among the organizing committee and volunteers.
• Women represented almost a quarter of the attendees (23%), the highest level since 2022!
• The Spanish delegation constituted about one third of the audience (35%), among which 29% were women! Diversity is still strong in Spain concentrated solar!
• Almost half of session chairs were women (45%).
• One member of the team who received the SolarPACES Technology Innovation Award was a woman, kudos Silvia Trevisan from KTH, Sweden!

W+CS highlights

• On Monday, September 22, we held a W+CS general assembly for the first time since 2022, giving feedback and discussing new ideas for the future of our group, and recruiting new members for our leadership team.
• On Tuesday, September 23, our group was presented during the opening plenary session by our co-founder Marina Casanova, giving us the opportunity to reach all attendees.
• On Thursday, September 25, we organized a networking happy hour, where attendees of all genders gathered around tables at random, presented themselves and discussed diversity issues in the concentrated solar sector, thus making connections in a more accessible and informal setting.
• Thanks to our WhatsApp group, we were able to gather pictures of presenting and chairing women all throughout the conference.
• Our pins and brochures were as ever a big success, high on demand! They really help spread the word.

We thank all SolarPACES attendees and organization for your infallible support and active participation!

Photo credits: Ángel Francisco Soler Cano, Women+ in Concentrated Solar members and SolarPACES attendees