As outlined in the current implementation plan of the Solar Europe Industry Initiative, the photovoltaic (PV) industry is committed to improving the long-term performance of connected plants. This requires important efforts along the whole value chain, from material and hardware production to operation and maintenance.
The Workshop “Reaching out for opportunities in Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)” was successfully held yesterday in the CCH Congress Centre Hamburg as an official parallel event of the 31 st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC 2015).
PV electricity is already competitive with retail power prices in some European countries. This is mainly the result of an impressive PV module price reduction, which corresponded to 80% in the period 2008-2014.
Since April 2015 EUREC has facilitated discussions on the governance of the SET Plan between today’s European Technology Platforms dealing directly in renewable energy supply technologies and in the architecture and requirements of Europe’s future energy system (EBTP, RHC-Platform, EU PV TP, ETP Smartgrids). Following a meeting between these ETPs and the European Commission on 8 June, these ETPs sent the ‘Main messages’ below to the EC for it to consider before finalisation of the Communication on an integrated SET Plan, scheduled for adoption in September.
Brussels, 26th January 2015 – Prof. Marko Topič, Head of Laboratory of Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, was elected as the new Chairman of the EU PV Technology Platform (EU PVTP). The election was held during the last EU PVTP Steering Committee Meeting and took place on 16th December 2014 in Brussels, Belgium.
The Annual Conference of the European Photovoltaic Technology Platform took place on 24 June 2014 in Brussels during the European Sustainable Energy Week. 110 people including five representatives from the European Commission gathered to discuss the future of large-scale PV manufacturing in Europe.
More than 150 high level stakeholders of photovoltaic solar energy (PV) gathered in Amsterdam at the 7 th General Assembly of the European Photovoltaic Technology Platform to discuss the great opportunities and challenges of this booming sector. The theme of the meeting was: “Photovoltaics: Engine of European Innovation and Development”, emphasising that in spite of the economic crisis and fierce global competition, PV can make great contributions to the European energy system and economy. The Platform chose Amsterdam to host this high-level event in the Netherlands, one of the first countries in Europe where grid parity has been reached for households. Grid parity is expected to kick off large self-sustained markets for PV.
