The European Commission has formed an official partnership with the European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) to guide research and innovation (R&I) funding for the sector during 2025-2027, under the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027.
The Co-programmed European Partnership for Solar Photovoltaics is planned to enter into force in early 2025. It will be realized after the commission negotiates with the solar sector the best possible format for the partnership.
Green transition is one of the 3 strategic orientations for R&I investment under Horizon Europe for the target years. Under this, the commission has committed to spending at least 35% of Horizon Europe's resources on climate action and 10% on biodiversity action. The plan was published in March 2024 and is available on the commission's website.
Part of the European solar PV sector's research arm ETIP PV Secretariat, the European solar PV lobby association SolarPower Europe (SPE) has welcomed the co-programmed partnership.
A Member of the ETIP PV Secretariat and R&I Manager at SPE Thomas Garabetian said, "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."
He added, "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."
Earlier this year in January 2024, the ETIP PV called for policymakers to bring in dedicated tools for OpEx and CapEx support to the solar industry in a whitepaper (see ETIP PV Updates Whitepaper On European PV Manufacturing).
Since then, the bloc has reached political agreement to boost domestic clean technology manufacturing to deal with cheaper production from China (see EU Council & Parliament Agree Over Net-Zero Industry Act).