Net-Zero Industry Act

Dries Acke, Policy Director at SolarPower Europe;

“It’s no secret that the solar PV supply chain needs to diversify, we’ve said it for years, the International Energy Agency has said it, and today’s Act recognises that. In large part due to the critical role solar plays in the energy transition.

However, building multi-gigawatt solar factories in Europe cannot happen overnight. We worry that the Act and related proposals offer a stick but not a carrot. 

The current proposal is asking Member States to reduce support for technologies from dominant geographies in the supply chains, like solar PV. That’s the stick. 

If we don’t want to risk slowing solar deployment, we need a bigger carrot, especially in terms of financing solar plants in Europe. 

Last week’s subsidy rule revision doesn’t include support for running solar factories, when European manufacturers face some of the highest energy prices in the world. 

We need a dedicated financial vehicle for European solar manufacturing, like a Solar Manufacturing Fund or a dedicated EU equity instrument, covering both CAPEX and OPEX.

The solar sector remains convinced that rewarding high performing ESG solar products in tenders or subsidy schemes is the effective and WTO-compatible way to leverage demand for European, Best-in-Class, solar equipment."

Next Steps

The Net-Zero Industry Act will now be discussed by the European Parliament and the European Council, before being formally adopted and entering into force.

© European Union (download here)