Manufacturing
Towards an overarching strategy for the solar power sector
Solar power will be the backbone of the future electricity system, guaranteeing EU citizens and businesses an affordable, secure, and clean electricity supply. This important market growth should be an opportunity to redevelop industry in Europe and entrench strong green growth at the heart of our continent.
We need to reinvest in a European domestic solar PV industry. This is critical to ensure a diversification of supply for the EU project development industry and their resilience to shocks, such as module shortages. This will also increase the sustainability of the technology, and support the green transition.
Europe has unique strengths to count on when reinvesting into a solar industry. Our highly-performing research and development ecosystem has particular advantage in the advanced technologies soon to dominate the market, such as heterojunction or perovskite. Europe also has an enduring industrial ecosystem, with ingots and wafers production capacity across the continent.
For these reasons, SolarPower Europe has launched the European Solar Initiative, the industrial alliance for solar, with its partner EIT InnoEnergy. The initiative aims at reshoring 20 GW worth of solar PV manufacturing in the EU by 2025, from polysilicon to module.
The EU is in the top-3 country filling high-value patents on solar PV technologies, together with Japan and South-Korea.
A solar PV integrated polysilicon to module factory can be globally competitive in Europe (Germany or Poland) if it reaches 5 GW capacity.
The EU industry set itself the objective of reaching a 20 GW manufacturing capacity by 2025, unlocking €40 billion of GDP annually.
The Manufacturing workstream
The Manufacturing workstream
The Manufacturing workstream aims to foster the right conditions to redevelop solar PV manufacturing in the EU, through a decisive European industrial policy. It will monitor and input the different critical EU legislative files expected in the coming years that will support the solar PV industry. It will also support EU industrial projects in accessing different support mechanisms, from State Aid to European calls.
"Europe is a solar industry leader. The European solar industry is a front runner in R&D and manufacturing of equipment, inverters, raw and processing materials. Now is the moment to create a strong industrial basis for our sector for generations to come."
Our major accomplishments
Manufacturing accomplishments
- Launched the European Solar Initiative in May 2020 with the Solar Manufacturing Accelerator, and presented 10 breakthrough projects to the Commission and European Investment Bank
- Developed and presented an analysis of the solar PV value chain to EU policy makers
- Drafted a Strategic Action Plan to redevelop 20 GW of production capacity in Europe by 2025
Interview with Christian Westermeier, chair of workstream
Within the workstream, solar companies join forces to have a more powerful position vis a vis the Commission and to push for a stronger engagement of the EU to support the revival of an EU solar manufacturing. This would also serve the target to have an EU solar industry complying with environmental and social standards in its production.
Read the interview
Manufacturing workstream Chair
Manufacturing workstream Vice Chair
Members of the Manufacturing workstream
