European Commission Unveils Co-Programmed Partnership for Solar Photovoltaics

The European Commission has released its ‘Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027,’ announcing the establishment of an official Co-programmed European Partnership for Solar Photovoltaics in collaboration with the European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP PV). Negotiations between the Commission and the solar sector will determine the partnership’s optimal structure, set to commence in early 2025. SolarPower Europe, part of the Secretariat of ETIP PV, represents the European solar PV sector’s research interests to the European Commission.

This strategic plan will direct research and innovation (R&I) funding for the 2025-2027 period. European Partnerships facilitate collaboration between the European Commission and private or public partners to address key challenges through joint research and innovation initiatives. In this regard, Thomas Garabetian, member of the ETIP PV Secretariat, and R&I Manager at SolarPower Europe (he/him) issued the following statement:

“Research and innovation is at the heart of solar; it’s been integral to mainstreaming the technology, supporting policy alignment, and bringing it from ‘lab-to-fab, from the research to the production phase.

However, we will still need to address several research and innovation challenges over the coming years, to encourage scientific advancements, accelerate technological breakthroughs, and enhance the competitiveness of the European solar industry on a global scale.

For this reason, the inclusion of a co-programmed partnership for solar PV under the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Strategic Plan is a significant step for the industry, which will improve the coordination of R&I efforts along the rapidly evolving solar value chain.

This partnership will be a crucial pillar to develop a resilient European solar supply chain, by helping European companies and research institutes to reduce their turnaround time between the laboratory and production phases, with better targeted R&I programmes that will help deliver innovation at scale.

It will also be important for advancing new applications for solar such as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and floating solar, and developing solutions to prioritise circularity within the solar industry.

As part of the ETIP PV Secretariat, we are looking forward to playing our part in transforming the European solar R&I framework.”