Early on 22 May, we were delighted to welcome the ETIP PV Steering Committee to SolarPower Europe offices, where we elected and re-elected 20 members. During the meeting, it was also announced that our CEO Walburga Hemetsberger, will sit on the Committee going forward, with SolarPower Europe holding a permanent seat.
Later that afternoon, the ETIP PV conference kicked-off. Around 110 participants attended the conference from 22-23 May. SolarPower Europe CEO Walburga Hemetsberger opened the conference. She highlighted; “It's great to see solar research and innovation given a more prominent role with the European Commission's co-programmed partnership for solar PV... we need to keep on innovating to become even more effective in overcoming challenges, and securing the energy transition.”
During his opening keynote speech, Lukasz Kolinski, Head of Unit, Renewables and Energy System Integration, at the Directorate-General for Energy at the European Commission, said; “Solar deployment must continue to grow…. we must harness innovative solutions [like Agri-PV and floating PV] and develop new ones. This will remain our priority."
Before closing the first day of our conference, sessions covered the topics of PV systems intelligently contributing to effective distributed control, as well as energy sharing and energy communities. During the energy sharing and energy community session, our Buildings and Prosumers Workstream Chair Sofia Barbosa from Greenvolt highlighted; "Greenvolt have an energy sharing scheme in Portugal, with 10 families in need receiving excess energy for free. The project has a lot of potential to be replicated."
We wrapped up day 1 by hosting a dinner for the Steering Committee and RESiLEX Project at our offices. RESiLEX, funded by Horizon Europe and launched in June 2022, is committed to strengthening each component of the silicon value chain, by demonstrating 8 industry-driven innovative technology solutions.
Opening day 2 of the ETIP PV conference during a session on energy communities and energy sharing, Marion Perrin from Energy Pool said; "Energy communities have a bright future. We just need flexibility, a change of mindset, and clear rules."
We closed the conference with a session on ‘Enhancing solar PV industry efficiency through focused digitised control and data sharing architectures and models.’
EVERPV-RESiLEX Joint Workshop
After concluding the ETIP PV conference, the EVERPV and the RESiLEX Horizon Europe funded projects held their joint workshop on advancing circular solutions for solar. Here, our Project Officers Hanna Dittmar and Claire Morin, and our Project Coordinator Daniela Blažejová, represented the EU projects. Our Junior Policy Advisor on Supply Chain Diversification, Emma Dominici also provided an overview of the Critical Raw Materials Act, talking about its objectives, and what it means in practice for the solar industry.
Nouha Gazbour from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), outlined the EVERPV project's objectives, stating how the project; “aims to optimise delamination processes for solar PV recycling, and develop sustainable solutions for handling end-of-life solar panels."
After the presentations, we organised breakout groups which discussed how both the EVERPV and RESiLEX projects can contribute to EU policy objectives.
At SolarPower Europe, we are looking forward to continuing our discussions on everything solar research and innovation, and playing our part in driving European solar R&I forwards.
Thanks to all for attending these events, and for your insightful contributions!
Interested in becoming a member?
Why become a member?
Do you want to stay up-to-date about solar energy?
