Its Time to Celebrate Solar
By James Watson, CEO
In Europe we have been leading the world in terms of installed capacity of solar power, ever since the start of the solar revolution almost 10 years ago. This year will see Europe hit and exceed 100 GW of grid connected solar, the first region to do so and a moment worthy of a celebration - which you will be glad to know that we in SolarPower Europe intend to honour later this year. 2015 was also the first year since 2010-11 that installations in Europe actually went up, from around 7GW in 2014 to around 8 GW in 2015 (more will be revealed in our Solar Market Workshop on 2 and March). The outcome of COP21 in Paris makes it seem that the transition to a clean CO2 free future is well under way, but is it really? Are these landmarks the start of a new dawn for solar, or a final mad surge of a European market destined for sub 10 GW annual growth for the foreseeable future?
The crystal ball gazers will be quick to tell me that in 2016 Asia, and China in particular, will eclipse Europe as the leading region for installed solar, and thus our crown and accolade for being the leading region will soon be eclipsed. Some market predictors will also remind us that the solar surge in 2015 was largely driven by the end of an incentive scheme in the UK, which saw up to 3,5 GW of solar installed in the UK in 2015, and thus allowed Britain to retain the honour of being Europes leading market for solar installations. It seems that many analysts believe that the cradle of solar will no longer be able to compete with the rate of installations elsewhere in the globe.
But there is reason for hope, we stand now on the threshold of the development of a whole new chapter in the growth of renewables and solar in Europe. If we get our legislation right, then the next wave of solar could be just around the corner. We can look across the Atlantic for inspiration, the USA has announced an extension of the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) through to 2022, which according to some analysts could result in as much as an extra 25 GW of solar on top of the expected rate of growth. This is the kind of forward thinking that is needed in Europe to give us a chance to make the targets agreed in the COP21 in Paris. We should not be stalled by rules relating to state aid from reaching our objectives to reduce CO2. EU Member States must be given the freedom to find the way to drive solar in the most cost effective way for society.
At the European level the framework must be developed to enable solar, the electricity market design proposal needs to support flexibility and remove subsidies for coal and nuclear energy. The renewables targets for 2030 must show the requisite ambition to drive more solar into the electricity system, we currently stand at a target of 45% of electricity from renewables in 2030. This must be increased if we are to meet the objective of the COP21 high ambition group, to which Europe belongs, to limit temperature rises to 1.5C degrees.
We also have the opportunity of storage here in Europe and on 2 March we will launch the SolarPower Europe Solar and Storage Taskforce, to explore how we can promote these two most compatible technologies. The KfW storage incentive scheme in Germany resulted in many households investing not just in storage, but also in solar. These are the type of developments that we need to see across Europe to drive the solar market.
There is a future for growth of solar in Europe and with the right framework, we will surely see solar surging again in Europe in the not too distant future.
