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To go where no PV has gone before

07. September 2010 By:  Brandon Mitchener

The executive panel that closed off today’s session of the EPIA PV summit in Valencia had a simple message to itself: to go where no man—or PV—has gone before. Too many companies are chasing too few markets, it seems.

German demand is seen shrinking next year for the first time in years. Many companies are still not preparing for the inevitable shift to new markets. Stephan Hansen, managing director of First Solar GmbH in Mainz, said: “We need to look at where we can go into new markets and develop those,” including by building factories and creating jobs there.

Murray Cameron, chief operating officer of Phoenix Solar, said industry had to work with markets such as the UK, which has just introduced a feed-in tariff, to get it right. “The bureaucracy in new markets is often extremely problematic,” he said. “We have to move to make it work.”

Ingmar Wilhelm, president of EPIA, had the last word, saying that utilities — of which his employer, Enel Green Power, is also a representative — would help PV grow by investing in infrastructure, including energy management systems and the grid, as well as in educating end-customers about the way PV can help them reduce their electricity bills.