Brussels-based member-led association SolarPower Europe is launching the Solar Manufacturing Accelerator, a platform aimed at accelerating the deployment of solar PV manufacturing projects in Europe as a critical milestone to strengthen the EU’s leadership in Clean Energy Technologies and contribute to the re-industrialisation of Europe.
“The European Commission recently presented its new Industrial Strategy, which acknowledges the need for a more strategic approach to renewable energy industries,” said Aurélie Beauvais, Policy Director at SolarPower Europe. “With the Solar Manufacturing Accelerator we aim to showcase the vast potential of solar PV manufacturing in Europe and provide the appropriate industrial and political ecosystem needed to bring these projects forward. European solar manufacturers are already leading in innovative solar technologies, such as heterojunction cells, perovskite tandem cells, grid-connected technologies, and battery storage systems. We aim to demonstrate the breadth of these cutting-edge technologies ahead of the launch of the European Commission’s Industrial Forum in September 2020.”
There is growing momentum for solar manufacturing in Europe – with the recent letter from Ministers from Austria, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland and Spain calling for solar to be considered as a strategic value chain and receive support under COVID-19 recovery packages.
“The European Green Deal without a solar value chain in Europe is not sustainable if we want to achieve not only climate goals, but also bring significant economic benefits to Europeans,” commented Rytis Kėvelaitis, Vice Minister at Ministry of Energy of Lithuania. “Joint efforts to launch a solar manufacturing hub in Europe need initiatives like the Solar Manufacturing Accelerator. This will create new opportunities in terms of economic growth, job creation and innovation in Europe, as well as investments in R&D.”
The Solar Manufacturing Accelerator will be coordinated by SolarPower Europe’s Industrial Strategy Workstream and is open to all companies and organisations interested in developing or partnering on solar manufacturing projects. The platform will support such projects by identifying partners and reaching out to financial investors, with an overall goal of increasing the number of solar PV manufacturing projects in Europe and contributing to the success of the European Green Deal.
“With the launch of the Solar Manufacturing Accelerator, SolarPower Europe’s Industrial Strategy Workstream aims to demonstrate the immense contribution of solar PV manufacturing to the European Green Deal, through innovative and cutting-edge products that will create thousands of highly-skilled jobs in Europe,” underlined Christian Westermeier, Chairman of SolarPower Europe’s Industrial Strategy Workstream.
“The ambition of the EU Green Deal building on PV as one of the strategic pillars needs to be translated into an Industrial Strategy for European solar manufacturing,” he added. “For the revival of the PV manufacturing supply chain in Europe, it is important that the EU Commission and the member states support European companies with easier access to globally-competitive financing conditions, and through enabling the appropriate economic framework to run a successful operation.”