This press release of the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) is in response to the proposals of the European Commission adopted yesterday (9 March) amending the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), and the proposed Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF). While ESMC welcomes the European Commission’s actions for quickly...
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ESMC appoints a Sustainability Policy Director
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) happily announces that Jens Holm, former Swedish MP, joins the ESMC executive team as Sustainability Policy Director. Jens Holm has 15 years’ experience as a full-time politician, with three years in the European Parliament and 12 years in the Swedish Parliament. Holm has worked with Swedish and...
VITRONIC – Showcasing the value of precise inspection
Meeting ESMC Board member Richard Moreth, also means meeting one of the most experienced in the field of Automatic optical Inspection (AOI) of PV in Europe. This is an important, but not always visible, step in the production chain, and we had the opportunity to speak about it with ESMC Board Member Richard Moreth, senior strategic consultant on...
New McKinsey Report: Building a competitive solar-PV supply chain in Europe
The analysis firm McKinsey & Company published a well-executed and relevant analysis yesterday, focusing on the operational conditions of the European PV industry. By comparing the existing policy structure, global market share, and industrial pipeline, the opportunity for European companies to strengthen their position and become competitive...
The AIT Austrian Institute of Technology – With a systemic approach
Dr. Stephan Abermann, part of the ESMC Board since its formation, is a true clean-technology enthusiast. His career has ranged from being a European Patent Attorney to Head of New Technology Scouting at Swarovski, ultimately leading him to the biggest non-university research institution in Austria the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology. As head...
Press release: ESMC delivers backbone proposals for the European Solar PV Industry Alliance before its launch
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) has sent a letter to the European Commission, indicating 8 key proposals to create a competitive European PV manufacturing ecosystem as soon as possible. The key takeaways from the backbone proposals are that speed is of the essence in this fast-moving market and that a holistic support approach is...
MCPV- Aiming for a fully integrated EU solar supply chain
Prof. Eicke R. Weber hardly needs any introduction in this context. As co-chair of ESMC since the organization was formed in 2019, he often represents ESMC and is a well-known face for our members. When we e-meet him for an interview, he is sitting in a sunny Freiburg office, and the conversation drifts into the different turn that his career has...
Launch of the third large-scale call of the EU Innovation fund
Yesterday marked the launch of the third large-scale call of the EU Innovation fund. To our great delight, the call includes as foreseen a dedicated window for “Large Scale Projects — Clean-tech manufacturing” with a budget of € 700 million (03 Manufacturing). According to the European Commission, the objective of this topic is to support...
New report: 5% of new capacity from “Innovative” Renewable Energy
In the context of our collaboration with and support of EUREC (The Association of European Renewable Energy Research Centres) we want to highlight a newly released report: 5% of new capacity from “Innovative” Renewable Energy: A necessary and do-able enhancement to the Renewable Energy Directive. In a consortium of several renewable energy...
ESMC expects European Solar PV Industry Alliance to scale up PV manufacturing capacities
Kicking off the work of the European Solar PV Industry Alliance by the European Commission marks an important step in creating scaled and long-term competitive PV manufacturing capacities in Europe, as now from the strategic acknowledgement of the need of a viable PV manufacturing sector in Europe the turn to concrete actions has been made. The...
Call to rebalance the Innovation Fund to better include renewable energy
Renewables displace fossil fuels - the Innovation Fund must recognise this cc: European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson cc: European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth Mariya Gabriels. BRUSSELS, 20 September 2022. Dear Executive Vice-President Timmermans Renewables displace fossil fuels. And in doing so, they...
SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES – ready to help establish GW-production in Europe
Name:Bernhard Krause Company:SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES Position:Corporate Communications Worldwide, spokesperson Location:Kahl, France No. years in the industry:15 year Company webpage: https://www.singulus.com/For more than 25 years, Bernhard Krause has been working for SINGULUS TECHNOLOGIES as Manager for marketing communications. When meeting...
The Renewable Energy Directive must drive the market uptake of innovative renewable technologies
Leading renewable energy industry federations, think tanks and research centres call for faster market uptake of renewable sources and next-generation RES technologies. BRUSSELS, 21 June 2022. The twin geopolitical and energy crises have thrown into sharp relief the high costs of Europe’s continued fossil gas dependency. Rising prices and supply...
Press release: ESMC strongly supports the EU Solar PV Industry Alliance – bold actions are necessary
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) expresses strong support for the EU Solar PV Industry Alliance proposed in the recently adopted EU Solar Energy Strategy and requests to start the work of the Alliance and establish a concrete support program for PV manufacturing industry as soon as possible, preferably so that the implementation...
Statement: ESMC supports the actions of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on forced labour in PV industry
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) highly appreciates the actions of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to request higher supply chain transparency, to be able to carry out thorough due diligence processes, so that Chinese Photovoltaic (PV) modules, using polysilicon that is suspected to be produced by forced...
Press release: IPCEI for PV launched in Brussels – EU Member States are invited to join the framework
On May 20th, an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) for PV was officially launched by the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) in association with the partners of the European Solar Initiative, at an event in Brussels. The target of the IPCEI for PV is to mobilise the appropriate EU Member States support for innovative...
Press Release: ESMC Welcomes the Inclusion of PV Manufacturing into the EU Solar Strategy – Concrete Actions Should be Taken Without Delay
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) congratulates the European Commission on adopting the EU Solar Energy Strategy earlier than expected. We note that most of the ESMC proposals have been included into the Strategy; However, more concrete targeted actions are necessary to be launched without delay in order to re-establish solar PV...
Press release: EU Member States are mobilizing efforts on a PV-IPCEI
This week will be of the key importance for the future of solar developments in the EU and the whole European PV manufacturing industry. The strategic agenda for the European PV deployment and the PV manufacturing industry will be set in the REPowerEU Plan and EU Strategy for Solar Energy, which will be launched on Wednesday. These framing...
Press release: ESMC releases the policy proposals for the EU strategy for solar energy
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) welcomes the forthcoming EU strategy for solar energy as the framework for building long-term competitiveness and critical mass of PV manufacturing capacities in Europe. This is crucial for reducing strategic dependencies, ensuring energy security and boosting the economic growth of the EU. ESMC...
ESMC statement on the European Commission’s proposed plan REPowerEU to reduce EU energy dependence on Russian fossil fuels
ESMC supports the action plan proposed by the European Commission on more ambitious and targeted deployment of renewables and requests quick and dedicated measures for the European solar PV manufacturing industry, to bridge the supply gap. ESMC's proposed measures of critical importance are summarized below and can be found in full here. Solar PV...
The European Commission acknowledges Solar PV as a strategic dependency in new Report
In line with ESMC's core message, the European Commission highlights the critical situation with high PV manufacturing concentration in China and emphasizes PV panels as a strategic dependency product group. The European Commission recently released an updated in-depth review of Europe's strategic dependencies. The report looks at five areas –...
“Made in EU-PV” – Progress and opportunities to contribute
We are happy to share good news about the »Made in EU-PV« film initiative: The film will be produced the coming months, as it has now gathered sufficient funds. As earlier communicated, ESMC is a cooperation partner for the film project. The plan is to produce a film of approximately 25 minutes, with the intention to convince political leaders...
Press release: ESMC releases a review summary of the RRF support for PV manufacturing
The Recovery and Resilience Facility makes €723.8 billion available to support measures undertaken by European Union (EU) Member States as a response to the coronavirus pandemic. To benefit from the support of the RRF, EU Member States must submit Recovery and Resilience plans (RRPs), with the reforms and investments to be implemented by the end...
An impact opportunity: “Made in EU-PV”
In line with our core mission to improve the conditions for European PV manufacturing and call for central support, ESMC would like to introduce you to a fundraiser film-project that we are supporting: “Made in EU- PV”. By creating a documentary film, the industry could communicate the European PV potential and call for action. The goal is to...
Press release: ESMC alerts the EU Member States not to lose the PV manufacturing opportunities in Europe
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) along with the national Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP) are timely instrument to push the European Green Deal objectives forward. However, the RRPs presented by the Member States to the European Commission do not reflect the European Union’s latest Industry Strategy which identifies PV manufacturing...