European Commission (EC) backed European Solar PV Industry Alliance (ESIA) claims the industry can exceed the official European Union (EU) goal of 30 GW annual PV manufacturing capacity by 2025, if right policy support is provided, basing its forecast of over 20 GW new PV projects in the pipeline currently.
Specifically, it stated, "Based on data collected from members of the ESIA as of June 2023, it has been determined that Europe could surpass the target of 30 GW in polysilicon production, ingots, cells and modules manufacturing respectively. These projections are derived from business figures from over 20 new PV pipeline projects, with further announcements expected in future."
It has released an action plan titled Towards 30 GW of PV Manufacturing in Europe Status Report Q2 2023 that covers key areas of non-pricing criteria, supply chain challenges, financial instruments and skills. It was released during Intersolar Europe 2023.
"The action plan also proposes non price criteria to bring forward Best-in-Class solar with strong environmental, social and governance credentials as well as actions to address gaps in the value chain, recyclability training and education, attractiveness and awareness, and mobility to ensure sufficient availability of talent," states the ESIA. Such Best-in-Class criteria were originally developed by SolarPower Europe, the association of the European solar sector. "One of the important deliverables for ESIA is to define a set of non-price criteria that give effective market signals for solar systems produced in Europe while at the same time not impacting the pace and cost-effectiveness of solar PV deployment. Defining these criteria directly responds to the European Net Zero Industry Act that is currently in the making," said Dries Acke, Policy Director at SolarPower Europe.
ESIA has put together 4 working groups (WG) to develop proposals to further the cause of the 4 key areas stated. For instance, non-pricing WG will explore creating segments of demand for high-quality PV products made in Europe, a bonus system for public procurement focused on environmental sustainability, social and governance aspects, and applying such a criteria in public and private procurement.
Supply chain WG will look into adapting legislation on energy price regulation for energy intensive industries of strategic importance for Europe. It will also focus on regulatory and policy solutions to tackle issues around Chinese solar glass and their impacts on recyclability.
The financing WG wants the authorities to identify current gaps, both opex and capex, compared to subsidy schemes in China and the US across the complete value chain.
The skills WG believes reshoring 30 GW PV manufacturing will need up to 50,000 new skilled workers and up- and re-skilling of 30,000 more by 2027. For this, the bloc needs to develop an EU-wide skills road map, create a solar academy among other suggestions.
"These action plans aim to empower solar industry manufacturing in Europe through leveraging more projects across all PV value chains, in order to bolster the continent's energy security and enhance its overall resilience," said ESIA Secretariat Lead Javier Sanz.
Details of the action plan and next steps are available on ESIA's website.
ESIA was launched in December 2022 to help de-risk investments across the PV industrial value chain and deliver on the 30 GW target by 2025 (see European Solar PV Industry Alliance Formally Established).