Today (Feb 26) in Brussels, the European Commission published the Clean Industrial Deal, including the Clean Industrial Deal Communication, the Affordable Energy Action Plan, and the Omnibus packages.'
The Clean Industrial Deal includes measures to unite climate action and competitiveness under a single economic and industrial growth agenda. The Commission confirmed that the plan is set to support energy-intensive industries and clean tech manufacturing by driving renewables, electrification, grids, and storage.
SolarPower Europe has issued the following statement in reaction.
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe (she/her):
"The Clean Industrial Deal brilliantly sets electrification as a key pillar for industrial competitiveness and decarbonisation, including a new 32% electrification target by 2030. We see that as a floor, not a ceiling. There are plenty of energy uses that are low-hanging fruit to electrify.
However, dedicated financial support for electrification needs to materialise. The new Industrial Decarbonisation Bank risks pitching electrification against gas-dependent solutions that look good on paper but miss the irrefutable benefits of electrification. Flexible, renewable-based, electrification can reduce day-ahead energy prices by 25% by 2030. Investment in electrification must be prioritised over short-term fossil-based solutions.
Getting the upcoming Grids Package right is critical to the success of the competitiveness agenda. It should be a Grids and Storage Package. Battery storage is the absolute shortcut to lower, less-volatile energy prices. Where is Europe's battery storage strategy?
We're glad to see that today's publication provides a specific boost for European solar manufacturers. The intention to prefer EU-made products in public procurement should strengthen the Net-Zero Industry Act, but we urgently need to complement that with financing support for building and operating factories. We need to see EU products better rewarded in public procurement while staying clear of unnecessary barriers to solar deployment.
The Affordable Energy Action Plan has the right framing, focus and sequence of actions points, starting with freeing electricity bills from unnecessary taxes and levies, and then making electricity structurally cheaper by boosting grids, flexibility and faster RES permitting. The plan is right, time to action. We do caution against plans to finance more LNG infrastructure, and any expectations that this would help reduce fossil fuel price volatility.
Under the Omnibus packages, aligning the scope and obligations between the CSRD and CSDDD is sensible as long as it doesn't water down regulatory objectives. Simplification should not mean deregulation. We are pleased to see Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives maintain their central role under the CSDDD, which should be aligned under the Forced Labour Regulation (and other relevant due diligence legislation). Such initiatives will only become more important as routes-to-compliance."
Notes
- In 2024 alone solar PV installed 66 GW in the EU; equal to powering 20 million more homes and businesses with low-cost, safe and clean energy. (SolarPower Europe)
- In 2024, solar overtook coal generation for the first time in the EU, saving. New solar and wind together saved the EU 59 billion fossil fuel import costs since 2019. (Ember)
- Modelling shows that more renewables, electrification and flexibility can boost European competitiveness, slashing average day-ahead energy prices by 25% by 2030, and by 33% by 2040, compared to 2023. Discover Mission Solar 2040.
- Electrification means building an energy system on the principal of electricity - rather than combustion. So induction cookers rather than gas hobs, and vehicles that run on electricity, rather than diesel and other fossil fuels. Today, 24% of Europe's energy system is electrified. We should reach at least 60% electrification in the EU by 2050 to achieve climate neutrality. Discover the Electrification Alliance.
- SolarPower Europe published its initial proposal for an IPCEI to support inverters in June 2024, along with our latest market analysis on European inverter manufacturing. Read here.
What is Flexibility?
Energy system flexibility is the ability of an energy system to adapt to changing conditions, such as variations in demand and supply. The key means are smart and interconnected grids, storage and demand response.
Consumers, electricity generators, or technology like storage, can use flexibility to adjust how they feed in electricity to the grid or consume electricity from the grid. This is important to match grid needs or solar availability.
In real life that looks like a solar power plant coupled with battery storage, or a smart charging station that charges a car when rooftop solar PV is producing abundantly.
Flexibility means the energy system is being used more efficiently, and so less investment is needed for slow-to-build grid infrastructure.
