In late March, US President Joe Biden’s Administration officially announced its main strategic goals for the US economy. The primary goal was to decarbonise the energy sector by replacing traditional electrical power sources with renewable ones. In particular, this strategic program is aimed at reducing the cost of electricity generated by solar power plants by 60 per cent over the next 10 years. In total, the United States intends to spend more than 2 trillion US dollars over the next decade to develop infrastructure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
It should be noted that more than 100 billion US dollars will be invested in the construction of energy storage systems. In particular, in 2021, more than 20 new facilities with a total capacity of 1.7 gigawatts (GW) will be commissioned in California.
According to Innovative Business (IB) Centre CEO Vitaliy Daviy, such an unprecedented investing in green projects in the United States will be a powerful catalyst for the development of renewable energy in other regions of the world.
“Everything that is happening to the Economy of the United States is projected on almost every economy in the world,” he said. “The United States is the world’s financial leader, thus, capital allocation by the US government and corporations determines investment policies for European and Asian markets. Joe Biden declared the next decade to be a period of rapid low-carbon economy formation, including the development of solar energy. This means that other countries, including Ukraine, expect the same trends, even if the government does not consider renewable energy as a strategic priority today. The situation will change drastically in no time.”
An added momentum to develop the global solar energy market will be a new project investing mechanism, which came into force in the European Union at the end of February this year. The new rules will allow the EU member states to achieve their solar energy goals by investing in projects in other EU countries.
According to the official IRENA data released in early April, the total capacity of solar power plants in the world in 2020 increased by 21.6 per cent, that is, to 714 GW. In particular, all European countries (including the non-EU countries) increased the capacity of solar power plants by 14.5 per cent in 2020 (to 163.5 GW).
The indications of total capacity (7.33 GW) show that Ukraine ranks 6th in Europe, ceding ground only to such industry leaders as Germany (53.8 GW), Italy (21.6 GW), Spain (14 GW), France (11.7 GW) and the Netherlands (10.2 GW). According to the growth rate of the solar energy sector in 2020, Ukraine takes the 4th position with a rate of more than 23.5 per cent. As for the American solar energy market, in 2020, the US total capacity of solar power plants was 75.6 GW, which exceeded the indicator in 2019 by 24.5 per cent.
According to IB Centre, the total investment in solar energy projects may exceed 80 billion US dollars globally in 2021. Brisk growth of home solar stations and commercial facilities to ensure internal consumption will be the main trend in Ukraine in 2021. At year-end 2021 the total increase in the capacity of solar power plants in Ukraine might reach 6-7 per cent or 450-520 MW.
A detailed outlook on the development of the solar energy sector in the region of Central and Eastern Europe will be presented by IB Centre at CISOLAR 2021, the 10th Solar Energy Conference and Trade Show of Central and Eastern Europe, which is scheduled for 6-8 July in Kyiv. This year CISOLAR will present new features in online and offline formats.
In particular, on 6 July, the 10th International Conference of Solar Energy of Central and Eastern Europe will take place in 2 formats − online and offline − in Kyiv at Hilton Hotel. The focus will be on new business models that meet the challenges faced by companies in 2020-2021, as well as on distributed generation, energy storage technologies, and waste management in solar power. During the exhibition, the latest world trends, technological solutions, and services will be presented. The CISOLAR 2021 online conference, which will be presented by outstanding speakers, will continue on 7 and 8 July. This year, the CISOLAR 2021 speakers will include more than 100 international experts and more than 1,000 online and offline participants.
The best industry projects will be determined at CISOLAR AWARDS 2021 – Best Solar Energy Projects of Central and Eastern Europe. The companies will compete for the title of the best project in 5 nominations: Best Solar Energy Installation for Households, Best Medium-Scale Solar Energy Project, Best Large-Scale Solar Energy Project, Best Local Solar Energy Product, and Outstanding Personality in the field of Solar Energy.
Furthermore, on 7-8 July, the ACCO International Exhibition Center will host the CISOLAR 2021 offline exhibition, where companies will present the latest technological advances in the field of renewable energy, the latest equipment, services and business models of cooperation with potential distributors and partners, as well as special offers for private clients.
