European Commission formally endorses solar industry alliance

The European Commission formally endorsed the Solar Photovoltaic Industry Alliance this week, under the REPowerEU plan. The long-awaited initiative is designed to scale up manufacturing of innovative PV products and components, in order to drive solar deployment across the continent.

The alliance is expected to help the EU to surpass 320 GW of newly installed solar capacity by 2025, and almost 60 GW by 2030, which will pave the way for Europe’s energy independence.

“The alliance will foster an innovative and value-creating industry in Europe, which leads to job creation here. Europe's solar industry already created more than 357,000 jobs,” said EC Commissioner Thierry Breton. “We have the potential to double these figures by the end of the decade.”

The European Commission is now set to publish a call for membership in the alliance by November. The initiative is expected to launch by the end of this year.

Once it is set up, the alliance will bring together industrial actors, research institutes, consumer associations, and NGOs to deliver an action plan for the solar industrial value chain in Europe. It will also engage with the EU and its member states on issues such as technology, supply chain, raw materials, and access to finance.

The European Commission will work with EIT InnoEnergy to set up the alliance on the foundations of the European Solar Initiative, which was established in 2020 by SolarPower Europe and EIT InnoEnergy to expand solar PV manufacturing.

“SolarPower Europe is pleased to support the new EU Solar PV Industry Alliance, both through our years of groundwork through the European Solar Initiative, and via our incoming role on the Steering Committee within the Alliance,” said Dries Acke, the policy director for the lobbying group. “We look forward to continuing our work through this new Initiative, and re-shoring European solar manufacturing for good.”