Daejeon City Officially Recognized as Host City for the World Solar Congress in Milan

On the 28th (local time), Lee Hyung-guk, Ambassador for International Relations, delivered the acceptance speech for Daejeon's hosting of the 2026 General Assembly at the 8th World Solar Congress held in Milan, Italy. Provided by Daejeon City

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Daejeon City has been officially recognized as the host city for the 2026 World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC).

On the 30th, the city announced that it delivered the acceptance speech for the next conference host city at the 8th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion held on the 28th (local time) in Milan, Italy.

The acceptance speech was delivered by Lee Hyung-guk, the International Relations Ambassador, on behalf of Mayor Lee Jang-woo of Daejeon. Mayor Lee had to return urgently on the 26th due to a fire accident at Hyundai Premium Outlet, so the International Relations Ambassador filled in for him.

Through the acceptance speech, the city was officially recognized as the next conference host city. Ambassador Lee met with key figures including Alessandra Scognamiglio, Chairperson of the 8th conference, in Milan to request support for the successful hosting of the next conference in Daejeon.

The conference is one of the world's top three academic conferences in the photovoltaic field and is regarded as the largest global renewable energy event held every four years. In Asia, only Japan and Korea (Daejeon) have hosted the conference.

The successful bid to host the conference is evaluated as the result of strong administrative and financial support commitments from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the city, combined with strategic cooperation from the Korean Photovoltaic Society, Korea Tourism Organization, and Daejeon Tourism Organization.

In particular, Mayor Lee Jang-woo of Daejeon and Park Il-jun, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, contributed to the bid by delivering video messages they personally recorded and handwritten letters to the conference organizers.

The 2026 conference held in Daejeon is expected to attract over 2,000 global photovoltaic industry, academia, research, and corporate stakeholders from 40 countries, along with about 2,500 domestic participants.

The city expects the six-day conference to generate direct and indirect economic ripple effects worth approximately 20.5 billion KRW.

Mayor Lee Jang-woo of Daejeon stated, “We will spare no administrative and financial support to ensure that the 2026 conference is remembered as the best conference ever through systematic support organization and meticulous preparation.”