The European Technology and Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics (ETIP PV) has successfully finished its 2022 virtual annual conference. The Conference “SHAPING EUROPE’S ENERGY FUTURE WITH PHOTOVOLTAICS – Sustainable manufacturing and deployment” has discussed in four sessions the challenges of the transition to climate neutrality and a sustainable future with Photovoltaics. These two topics will become the overarching objective of major EU policies and actions.
Experts from all over Europe and abroad have addressed and discussed in the virtual conference different scenarios and questions demonstrating a converging view on the necessary deep electrification of most economic sectors, only with solar energy can we deliver electricity in very large quantities, at affordable cost, in an environmentally and societally sustainable way.
As stated in the EU Green Deal Communication, the just transition to climate neutrality and a sustainable future is the overarching objective of all EU policies and actions. Photovoltaics is a key technology in the energy transition.
Simon Philipps, Head of R&D Strategy, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE & 2022 ETIP-PV Conference Chairman: “In my view this year’s ETIP PV conference has again been a milestone event for the energy transition in Europe. High-level experts from research, politics, and industry have impressively underlined that Photovoltaics is the key technology for Europe’s energy transition. With its focus on sustainability in relation to manufacturing and large-scale deployment the event has also addressed challenges regarding the Terawatt-PV era. With the outlined solutions and next steps, the road has been defined to shape Europe’s energy future with Photovoltaics! “
The two-day forum targets high-level PV industry stakeholders and politicians with a mix of presentations and roundtable discussions involving key European and global speakers.
After a welcome address from Simon Philipps, 2022 Conference Chairman, the Session I with the title “STRENGTHS OF PV AND ONGOING INITIATIVES” under the Session Chairs Maria Getsiou, European Commission, Directorate-General for Research & Innovation and Marko Topic, Chairman, ETIP PV, discussed that PV is in the centre of the (Energy) Green Transition and the spotlight of European initiatives aiming to accelerate PV deployment, strengthen value chain and maximize its value and impact.
In Session II the topic “TECHNOLOGICAL SOVEREIGNTY FOR PV” had been presented with the Session Chairs Jutta Trube, Managing Director Photovoltaic Equipment, VDMA and Jochen Rentsch, Head of Department Production Technology – Surfaces and Interfaces, Fraunhofer ISE. Complete supply chains are an essential prerequisite for establishing sustainably successful and independent PV manufacturing in Europe. This applies to both the production of process equipment and essential material components. The session has provided an overview of the existing PV supply chain landscape in Europe, and then examined the situation from the perspective of both a module manufacturer and the supplier industry.
Taking place on the second conference day Session III with the title “FUTURE CHALLENGES FOR THE TW-ERA » continued. The main hurdles that need to be overcome to realize PV deployment on a massive scale of several TW per year. The session started off with presenting future scenarios for PV deployment to realize Europe’s climatic goals and their impact on the cost of the resulting PV electricity. It then dove deeper into the following challenges for massive PV deployment: grid integration and grid stability, security of supply, public acceptance, space availability, and dual use of space. Special focus was put on the contribution of European research and development to overcome these challenges. The Session III Chairs were Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO, SolarPower Europe and Ivan Gordon, Manager Photovoltaic Technology and Energy Systems, IMEC.
Chairs of Session IV, Delfina Munoz, Senior Researcher in Photovoltaics, CEA & Rutger Schlatmann, Director PVcomB, Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, concentrated the presentation and discussion on “TECHNOLOGY FOR SUSTAINABLE TW-PV.” Following up on the challenges of the previous session, this session went deeper into the technical challenges connected with a multi–Terawatt PV market. From the R&D perspective, it discussed the sustainability potential of future PV technologies and compared them to today´s state-of-the-art.
Marko Topič, the ETIP PV Chairman: “Photovoltaics is a key technology in the energy transition. ETIP PV Annual Conference 2022 unleashed the strengths of Photovoltaics and assessed needs and bottlenecks for terawatt scale photovoltaics. Check the recorded sessions where we prioritized actions to accelerate deployment and shape Europe’s energy future with photovoltaics.”
The ETIP PV Online conference 2022 included four sessions with a series of live panel discussions. In an average over 200 participants registered for each of the four sessions.
