MILAN, Italy, September 12, 2007. The European Commission will strengthen its efforts to increase solar PV technology to a more significant market share.
“Renewables and energy efficiency measures are established as key technologies to improve security of energy supply,” says a report prepared by nine employees of the EC and presented to the European PV solar energy conference in Italy. “They also provide Europe with environmental benefits and sustainable technological development.”
In March, the European Council adopted mandatory targets that include increasing the overall consumption of renewables to 20% and 10% for green fuels by 2020. A ‘Renewable Energy Road Map’ was produced to describe the “massive growth required” in renewable energy sectors to meet those targets.
“The share of renewable energy in the overall energy consumption has been growing too slowly,” it notes. “Having carefully examined the feasibility and the technical and economic potential, the Commission has concluded that the overall objective of a 20% contribution of renewable energy to the EU energy mix is possible and necessary.”
“To bring the current PV technology rapidly to a more significant market share in line with the decision on renewable energies by the European Council, and to prepare the next successful generation of PV technologies, the European Commission efforts will be further strengthened in the future, particularly through the new FP7 and IEE-II programmes,” it explains. “These programmes, together with the EU regional funds and international co-operation programmes will be important for the future of the European PV industry, because only working at an EU level can deliver the critical mass of activities which are needed for the EU’s PV industries to grow fast enough and to compete effectively in today’s global PV markets.”
The industrial development of PV is supported through the EU Framework Programme, where research focuses on the next generation of PV technologies while demonstration activities “accelerate the market penetration of more cost-effective PV technologies.” To accelerate the development, demonstration and market introduction of “ever better PV systems,” the EC is combining an “intense legislative initiative with a strong research and demonstration effort and a specific support to promotion and dissemination initiatives enabling the transformation to a reliable, competitive and transparent market.”
Research funded under the Framework Programme has produced 35.2% efficiency in multi-junction cells, 11% in dye-sensitised cell, 14.1% in CIS on flexible polyimide, 16.4% in Zn-buffered CIS cell, and 13.7% in epitaxial cell on metallurgical Si.
“Increased concern about GHG emissions together with the need to improve the security of supply and enhance business competitiveness, make it ever more vital and pressing for the EU to put in place an integrated policy on energy, combining action at the European and the Member States’ level,” the paper explains. The cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity in Europe surpassed 3,000 MW by the end of last year, which means that the White Paper target formulated in 1997 for the EU-15 has been achieved four years ahead of time within a EU-25 setting.
Since 1999, European PV companies have claimed yearly production growth of 40% and Europe accounts for 50% of the global market although its manufacturing capacity represented only 30% of global cell production, the authors explains. Europe remains a net importer of cells, “a trend which may worsen if the growth of production in Europe is outpaced by global counterparts in future years.”
(fuente: Focus.)
