©Reuters. Solar panels used to produce renewable energy in the photovoltaic park in Cestas, southwestern France
By Kate Abnett
BRUSSELS, March 31 (Reuters) – The European Commission will do “whatever it takes” to rebuild Europe’s solar power equipment manufacturing industry, the EU’s energy commissioner said on Thursday, as the bloc lays out plans to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian gas.
The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Europe’s main gas supplier, has forced the European Union to cut its consumption of Russian gas by two-thirds this year and set a goal of ending it by 2027.
The Commission is drawing up a detailed plan, due in May, on how the 27 EU countries can achieve this goal, including by accelerating the transition to renewable energy.
A specific strategy for solar power will seek to speed up permitting that has slowed down installations, as well as support more solar power purchase agreements and increase solar manufacturing capacity in Europe, Kadri Simson told the Solar Power conference. Brussels Summit.
“We need to bring manufacturing back to Europe, and the Commission is ready to do whatever it takes to get that done, and part of that is looking at possible funding options,” he said, adding that this would include helping to finance projects.
The EU imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy controls on solar panels from China between 2013 and 2018 in a bid to protect European manufacturers from a flood of cheaper parts from the world’s leading solar maker. world.
The Commission has said that 170 billion cubic meters of Russian gas could be replaced by 480 gigawatts (GW) of wind power and 420 GW of solar capacity by 2030.
Industry group SolarPower Europe says that, with the right regulatory support, the EU could reach 1,000 GW by 2030, up from 165 GW today, but it must first overcome short-term hurdles.
“We have a shortage of installers, problems with permits and equipment,” said the group’s president, Aristotelis Chantavas. He urged the EU to commit to producing 45% of its energy from renewables by 2030, against the 40% target now being negotiated by EU regulators.
(Reporting by Kate Abnett; editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Tomasz Janowski; translation by Flora Gómez)
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