The European Commission launched the EU’s Solar Photovoltaic Industry Alliance (ESIA). This alliance aims to regain production from China and establish a “Made in Europe” industry.
The alliance will encourage investments in large-scale factories and aim for an annual output of 30 GW for each key solar component by 2025. This is six times greater than the current capacity of 4.5 GW.
According to SolarPower Europe, EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton hosted the conference and formally presented the alliance, followed by opportunities to discuss the main issues the alliance will address. Peter Fath, the CEO of RCT solutions and a member of the steering committee of ETIP PV discussed about the Scale up challenges for manufacturing of solar PV in Europe.
In his speech, Peter Fath stated, “Innovation is very important to consolidate the European PV value chain, but Europe cannot dream to be immediately competitive only by setting up highly innovative factories because global competitors including China are also investing heavily in innovation. We need our factories to also propose a diverse portfolio of technologies and be ready to integrate innovation via the upgrade of the production line.”
The new alliance will increase EU production of solar PV products that are competitive, innovative and sustainable. It will also diversify international PV value chains components and raw materials. This alliance will help accelerate the EU’s solar PV deployment. The strategic action plan will include support for solar PV research and innovation by the ESIA.
ETIP PV, a signatory of the ESIA is available to offer its vast expertise in fostering R&I within the EU PV value-chain.
