SSEC Storage & Solar Expo Conference: A Powerful Debut

Vicenza – With a debut that exceeded expectations, the first edition of SSEC – Storage & Solar Expo Conference, a B2B event on photovoltaics, storage, and energy management, concluded today at the Vicenza Exhibition Center. The event was organized by IEG – Italian Exhibition Group in collaboration with Meneghini&Associati and with the support of Italia Solare.

A new, compact and highly specialized format that has found fertile ground in Vicenza, significant for its industrial density as well as its development and awareness of renewable energy.

"The energy transition is now a structural component of companies' investment and competitiveness strategies," says Corrado Peraboni, CEO of IEG – Italian Exhibition Group. "SSEC was created to capture this evolution with a strongly B2B format, capable of bringing supply and demand closer together and creating concrete opportunities for relationships and business. The response gathered over these two days confirms the market's interest in a vertical event focused on solar and storage, complementary to KEY – The Energy Transition Expo in Rimini, and located in one of the country's most important production systems.

It is on this specialization and on the quality of the relationships generated that we want to build the future development of SSEC."

Two days of expo, conferences, and networking brought together over 50 supply chain companies, associations, institutions, analysts, and experts. Seventy speakers and seven conferences—all sold out—explored the new energy needs of the production system, including the "SYSTEM ENERGY" panel discussion, which brought together Confindustria Brescia, Confindustria Vicenza, and Confindustria Alto Adriatico. The program also included three talks by Confartigianato on topics such as "Self-consumption and renewable energy communities," "Central plant controllers," and a "Practical guide to CEI 0-21 and CEI 0-16 standards," as well as 10 startup focus sessions showcasing innovative solutions for the supply chain.

SSEC fits perfectly with the numbers of a Veneto region already at the forefront of the energy transformation. In the first half of 2026, it ranked third in Italy for new photovoltaic capacity installed, with 306 MW, and second for the number of new systems. In terms of storage, it is second for new photovoltaic storage systems, with 6.698 installations, and fourth for new capacity, with 97 MWh.

The event focused on the new role of photovoltaics and storage systems in corporate energy strategies, with a discussion extending from energy production to the ability to store, manage, and utilize it. This approach brought together technology providers, production systems, associations, and professionals on the topics of efficiency, self-consumption, energy autonomy, flexibility, and storage integration, all the way to the prospects of agrivoltaics.

The discussion revealed a transformation in the relationship between energy and industrial competitiveness: for businesses, investing in photovoltaic and storage increasingly means addressing cost management, energy cost predictability, and process efficiency.

In this direction, SSEC has proposed a model geared toward directly matching supply and demand, connecting user companies, technology manufacturers, designers, operators, and supply chain stakeholders. Flexibility is also central, addressed as one of the new frontiers of the energy market: the growth of renewable generation makes the ability to adapt production and consumption increasingly strategic, enhancing the role of storage and intelligent energy management solutions. This move further strengthens the link between energy transition and the competitiveness of the production system.

Following its successful debut, SSEC – Storage & Solar Expo Conference is already looking ahead to 2027 and will meet the solar and storage industry at the Vicenza Expo Centre on September 28th and 29th.