At SolarPower Europe’s annual SolarPower Summit event on 26 March, on behalf of the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV), SolarPower Europe and the European Commission officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to begin the European Partnership for Innovation in Solar PV (EUPI-PV).
The partnership, by bringing together industry, research, and the European Commission, will strengthen the R&I framework for solar PV in Europe, and help European solar PV innovation to be faster and stronger. This will ensure that we have a consistent approach from the beginning of the R&I process to the commercialisation of new products, solutions and technologies. Ultimately, it will strengthen Europe's position in the global solar PV industry, and scale-up the European solar PV manufacturing capacity, developing a more resilient value chain in the EU, and reduce dependency on fossil fuels through collaboration across the entire solar PV value chain.
During the ceremony, Joanna Drake, Deputy Director-General of Research and Innovation (DG RTD) (she/her) highlighted; "Europe is re-inventing itself as the leader in solar research and innovation (R&I). We need to drastically step up our efforts to support the solar industry in Europe."
During the ceremony, Walburga Hemetsberger (she/her) said; “The more we’re inventing, the better we’re going to be able to integrate renewables into our system; that’s why R&I is so important and plays a role in so many applications like floating solar and agrisolar. This agreement will allow us to tackle our energy transition challenges, while securing our energy future… That’s why I am delighted that we’re signing this.”
The SolarPower Summit is SolarPower Europe’s flagship event, which brings together key decision-makers, and industry experts from around Europe to explore Europe’s most pressing questions. ETIP PV is a European Commission supported forum, bringing together research and industry experts, who are shaping the EU research and innovation agenda for solar PV. SolarPower Europe, together with WIP Renewable Energies, is currently chairing the Secretariat of the ETIP PV.
You can read ETIP PV’s press release on the partnership here.
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Joanna Drake, Deputy Director-General of Research and Innovation, and Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, presenting the signed Memorandum of Understanding for EUPI-PV
© SolarPower Europe
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