The opening scientific presentations at the 42nd edition of EUPVSEC provided a whistlestop tour of some of the many areas solar energy is now influencing, moving rapidly from agrivoltaics and the vineyards of Spain to PV concentrators designed to power spacecraft journeying to the outer planets of our solar system.
Applications like these show the many different industries and areas that can benefit from solar energy. But the session was quickly brought down to Earth when discussions turned to politics. Solar’s growth also means it is affected by developments in many different areas, meaning the job of advocating for the right policies to ensure continuing investment in renewables and away from fossil fuels is becoming a more difficult job, with more people to convince and vested interests to navigate. The solar industry is increasingly “preaching to the unconverted” in efforts to secure its own future, as Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin’s Rutger Schlatmann told the audience at EU PVSEC.
Becquerel prize
The more difficult job for advocates was well reflected in the award of this year’s Becquerel Prize to SolarPower Europe CEO Walburga Hemetsberger. Accepting the award, she noted that while solar’s success story in recent years is to be celebrated, new challenges are emerging in the form of grid infrastructure unable to keep up with the installation rate of renewables, and slow progress on bringing large-scale PV manufacturing to European shores despite widespread acceptance that this has to happen sooner rather than later.
Hemetsberger also noted that a change in policy priorities appearing in many regions is a real threat to progress for the solar industry. She spoke of the need for the entire sector to unite in challenging misperceptions about solar and efforts to preserve an outdated system centered around fossil fuels. “Solar is security, solar is competitive,” she told the audience earlier today.
Policy support
Discussion of policy support continued with a presentation from Becquerel Institute CEO Gaëtan Masson, who noted that PV has come this far thanks in no small part to “smart policy and public acceptance.”
He also pointed out that vested interests such as the fossil fuel industry are still able to exert a lot of influence on policy. He pointed out that the International Energy Agency recently stopped announcing its forecast of a peak in oil production to come by 2030, and that analysis found more than 34,000 posts on various social media platforms incorrectly blaming renewables for the blackout that affected much of Spain for several days earlier this year.
He also noted that local manufacturing in Europe is a must, and that states need to step in and offer guarantees here. Establishing solar manufacturing at any scale would require huge funding, and given several high-profile bankruptcies in the sector in recent years would be too high-risk to rely on venture capital.
The takeaway from the morning’s opening session is that solar now risks moving from being a “policy-driven to a policy-constrained market,” as Masson put it. And the best ways to avoid this outcome will be a focus for discussion throughout the 5-day conference in Bilbao this week.
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