SolarPower Europe

Industry association SolarPower Europe expects little change in the line-up of Europe’s biggest residential battery markets in four years’ time, with a rush of retrofits as turn-of-the-century solar feed-in tariffs begin to expire, set to keep Germany way ahead of the pack.

As the continent struggles through this latest seasonal electricity price crisis, the power of solar has been brought to the fore. Households and industry alike have been affected by the challenges in electricity costs in recent weeks, as global economic recovery and supply chain issues have driven high gas prices. Consumers at every level are searching for energy alternatives.

The Euro trade body has promised to monitor the developing solar jobs market annually from now on, and pointed to Poland’s position at the top of the tree of EU member states for PV jobs last year as evidence the technology can still benefit from legislative backing.

Re-Source 2021 in Amsterdam has kicked off and the pivotal timing of the event has not been lost on any of the attendees or speakers. It is the time to kickstart the energy transition, and following the European Commission’s endorsement of corporate renewable PPAs as a solution to surging energy prices, this is the room where it could happen.

The latest global PV industry outlook published by trade group SolarPower Europe, has indicated tight supply of the solar panel raw material is expected to persist this year but the trade body said it would be unlikely to drive further price rises.

While trade group SolarPower Europe has welcomed the EU’s emissions-reduction legislative package, it renewed calls for solar and energy storage to be mandated on buildings and urged policymakers to go even further than the stated ambition for clean power to fire 40% of European electricity by 2030.

The head of the nation’s Smart Energy Council told an event organized by the Global Solar Council, that landmark could be achieved even amid Covid-19 restrictions.

The question of overly complicated, time-consuming permitting processes again raised its head at a two-day online event held by the Global Solar Council to examine how to accelerate deployment of photovoltaics.

The current planning regulations would mean Italy not hitting its 2030 climate change targets for another 70 years and clean energy trade bodies say the Simplification Decree being debated in parliament – which was drafted to secure €191 billion of EU cash and loans – does not go far enough.

pv magazine will be hanging out with the great and the good of the European solar scene this week, during the three-day SolarPower Summit 2021 organized by industry body SolarPower Europe, which began on Monday. Keep an eye on this live blog for regular updates from our virtual correspondents.