The one-day conference on "Recent Trends in Solar Photovoltaics" organized by the Department of Physics, Coimbatore Institute of Technology was inaugurated on 13th July 2006. The inaugural function of the conference was presided over by Dr. R. Prabhakar, Principal, CIT, and the inaugural address was delivered by Prof. E. Ramasamy, Head , Department of Chemical Engineering of Coimbatore Institute of Technology.

               Sixty delegates from different parts of the state participated in the conference. The main objective of the conference was to provide insight into the recent trends and developments in Solar Photovoltaics and bring about an interaction of teachers,, researchers and young scientists with  technical expertise in the field of Solar Photovoltaics. In the first session of the conference, Dr. D. Mangalaraj of Bharathiar  University with his expertise in the field of Organic Solar Photovoltaics brought about the developments in this new emerging field of solar cells. Thin film Solar Photovoltaics is an established frontier area in the field of science and technology. Dr. K. P. Vijayakumar of Cochin University of Science and Technology, in the second session of the conference, gave a detailed description about the recent developments in the field of thin film Solar Photovoltaics. Silicon is the most widely used material in solar cell fabrication. Dr. R. Balasundaraprabhu of PSG College of Technology, in third lecture of the day, gave a clear picture about the draw backs overcome and advances made that has lead to the fabrication of efficient silicon solar cells. In the last session, Dr. M. Dhanam of  Kongunadu Arts and Science College presented complete details about Quantum dot solar cells. The success of the conference was the strong and positive impact it made on the participants.  In the feed back session, they pointed that they were strongly motivated and understood the necessity to concentrate on renewable energy sources like Photovoltaics as a viable alternative to the depleting fossil fuels in the scenario of energy crisis.