The European Commission released on Wednesday its plan to reduce carbon dioxide levels by directing €50 billion to clean energy research and development over the next ten years, with €16 billion ($23.5 billion) of that money reserved for solar photovoltaic power. The Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan may be the latest step in the European Union’s PR crusade—it precedes the summit meeting in Copenhagen in December to discuss a global agreement addressing climate change—but it’s also, as this New York Times article notes, a signal of the region’s willingness to reorder its “industrial principles” and devote greater spending to clean energy “even as the world emerges from a deep financial crisis.”
From the direct source:
Markets and energy companies acting on their own are unlikely to be able to deliver the needed technological breakthroughs within a sufficiently short time span to meet the EU’s energy and climate policy goals. Locked-in investments, vested interests, as well as the high risks and need for significant investments in less profitable alternatives, mean that change will be slow without a major push. Public policy and public investment partnering with the private sector is the only credible route to meet our goals, established for the public good.
As environmentally-friendly as Europeans are compared to their counterparts on both sides of the pond, not everyone is happy about the SET Plan. Especially not Wind, which will be receiving a relatively paltry €6 billion, lagging (in terms of funding) behind Carbon Capture (€13 billion), a €11 billion “Smart Cities” initiative aimed at enhancing urban efficiency by developing environmentally sound buildings and transport systems and €7 billion for nuclear fission development. One other party dissatisfied with the plan, however, might come as a bit of a surprise: the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA).
And what has gotten them so concerned? Below, an excerpt from the EU document outlining the SET Plan:
Solar energy, including photovoltaics (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP), has to become more competitive and gain mass market appeal. Problems derived from its distributed and variable nature need to be resolved. To support the development of PV, we need: a longterm research programme focussed on advanced PV concepts and systems; up to 5 pilot plants for automated mass production; and a portfolio of demonstration projects for both decentralised and centralised PV power production. For CSP, the overriding need is for industrial up-scaling of demonstrated technologies by building up to 10 first-of-a-kind power plants, supported by a research programme to reduce costs and improve efficiency, particularly through heat storage.
According to Greentech Media, the EPIA was concerned that the EU was focusing too much on research and not enough on the widespread deployment of solar technologies. It is also worried that the plan would receive insufficient private funding, and is lobbying for more public funds—a legitimate concern for the solar industry, given the shakiness of the worldwide credit market.
“The EC is putting too much emphasis on long-term research and should better recognise the need for accelerating the development of existing commercial and pre-commercial PV technologies,” according to an EPIA statement. “Of course, long-term research should be carried out in parallel through other instruments.”
While any concerns are best aired at the beginning of a project, the details of the proposal have yet to be ironed out, as each of the EU’s member countries still needs to work with the commission to determine the means of the necessary funding. As this plan has the potential to turn Europe into the largest solar market in the world—not to mention an even more dominant clean-energy paradigm—it’s not likely that it won’t be taken lightly.
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