Meet SolarPower Europe members: BayWa r.e.
BayWa r.e. is a leading global renewable energy developer, service provider, distributor of solar components, and energy solutions provider. Operating throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific, our motto is to r.e.think energy: how it is produced, stored and can be best used to enable the global renewable energy transition that is essential to the future of our planet.
We are firmly committed to our overall strategic objective to “accelerate the growth of renewable energy”. The growth of renewables is the answer to some major challenges the world faces: it reduces energy cost inflation, which is threatening industrial production in Europe; it increases independency from energy imports and reinforces the security of energy supply; and it provides green electricity at least cost, which is vital if we are to limit the damage of climate change.
As newly re-elected Vice-President of SolarPower Europe, my key objectives are to accelerate the development of the solar sector in Europe while increasing supply chain transparency and rebuilding PV manufacturing in Europe. This requires a lot of effort but is crucial in the spirit of further increasing the deployment of PV in Europe in a sustainable and resilient manner, while making efficient use of our established global supply chain and partnerships.
As Director Corporate Strategy, Energy Policy & Sustainability of BayWa r.e., it is my and all my colleague’s objective to keep BayWa r.e. firmly positioned as an innovative leader at the heart of the renewables industry. We also need to ensure that our dynamic growth is based on a solid foundation of operational excellence, and that we deliver on our sustainability framework and stakeholder objectives.
A key project for 2023 is to find a new partner for our Solar trade entity. The sale will unlock the huge growth potential of all businesses and enable the fulfilment of our ambitions in project development, where we want to triple the volume of projects in the coming years. It shall also further support the growth of our IPP portfolio and strengthen collaboration in the area of O&M Services, asset management and Energy Solutions.
On another note, myself and my colleagues at BayWa r.e. and at SolarPower Europe, are firmly committed to continuing our support for Ukraine. Solar power is key, and it is more important than ever for the European solar sector to provide solutions to strengthen the resilience of vital infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals in Ukraine.
Learn more about the #SolarSupportsUkraine campaign, and consider donating here.
BayWa AG, our mother company, has 100 years of history in the agricultural sector, which is why the topic of sustainable land use and finding ways of uniting the interests and needs of farmers and the solar sector is very much in our DNA.
My colleague Stephan Schindele is a pioneer and thought leader of Agri-PV in Europe. His priorities with the colleagues in the workstream are the following:
- Promote efficient deployment of inclusive and integrated utility-scale solar PV within a fully renewable energy system, compatible with ecosystem restoration, nature conservation, and agriculture.
- Increase the area potential for PV and ease the permitting process of utility-scale PV, including innovative applications like Floating PV, Agri-PV, and Biodiversity PV.
- Influence the next strategies and regulation at EU and national level on planning, permitting, and integration.
- Be a go-to-platform for cross-sectorial exchange on the Food-Energy-Water-Biodiversity nexus.
We need to accelerate growth while diversifying the supply base and remaining united as a sector.
Solar is the lowest cost of electricity in new plants and is booming in Europe. But we should accelerate even more. For this, we need to increase the transparency, sustainability and diversification of our supply chain and reduce our dependency while remaining integrated in a global solar market.
Rebuilding of the solar PV supply chain in Europe needs to happen at scale, backed by economic and political support, with the ambition to reach highly competitive cost levels across the entire value chain. This is a tightrope walk between market dynamics and protective measures, and can be achieved if we remain united as a sector. Manufacturers, developers, installers – we are all ultimately interested in providing European consumers with clean, competitive power from solar that comes from cost-effective installations with low lifecycle footprint and a transparent and sustainable supply chain.
Let us therefore remain a strong, united voice for solar both in Europe and globally, and we will unleash the enormous potential of solar energy and harness the sun’s incredible power.
