The event aims to advance the long-term quality of Europe's solar projects.
Our CEO Walburga Hemetsberger opened the conference with Markus Elsaesser, CEO of Solar Promotion GmbH, highlighting how; "Solar is not only just a solution to climate change, but a solution that Europe needs for competitiveness and security at large... Delivering on our climate targets means committing to quality assurance."
Following this, our Project Officer Nikoletta Fodor moderated a panel session on unveiling the costs of quality for solar PV. During the discussion, Kate Blades, Head of Quality at Lightsource bp outlined how; "Prevention is better than cure, this is the real philosophy we stand by at Lightsource bp. Quality is a cost, but done right, it delivers returns and a competitive advantage."
In the afternoon, Nikoletta Fodor launched the organisation's new O&M Best Practice Guidelines Version 6.0, emphasising how the report "is a unique, leading set of recommendations from the industry, which shows the importance of harmonising best practices as digital technologies evolve, and solar deployment continues to grow." Within this report, over 30 experts of SolarPower Europe's Lifecycle Quality Workstream, have illustrated their knowledge and experience from across the solar sector, coming from O&M, recycling and circularity, waste management, utility-scale solar, and manufacturing backgrounds.
Ending day one, our Press and Communications Advisor Thérèse O Donoghue moderated a session with a presentation from our Director of Market Intelligence Michael Schmela, and Policy Advisor for Electricity Market and Finance Simon Dupond, as well as Molly Morgan, Senior PV Analyst at CRU. During his presentation, Michael affirmed; "Renewables, electrification and flexibility prevent 151 million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year... We need to embark on a flexible electrification revolution!"
The second day of the conference began with a session on overcoming challenges to battery energy storage systems (BESS) deployment in a discussion moderated by our Market Analyst Antonio Arruebo. During the discussion, Nicolas Depoorter, Country Managing Director for Spain & Portugal, at Ngen, noted how; "It's like a rollercoaster. The lack of harmonisation between regulations and permits is a problem. In Portugal, there is no regulation for standards and storage."
During the second day, the SUPERNOVA project organised two workshops on leveraging the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for quality assurance, and optimising data sharing between O&M service providers, asset managers, and owners. The first workshop explored how to use AI to manage and organise large amounts of data, and the solutions which are available through instruction tuning for large language models (LLMs). Miguel Herrero, Senior Market Advisor from PVcase, stated; "The SUPERNOVA project will focus on developing advanced artificial intelligence tools to improve the efficiency of solar PV plants. AI drives business growth and power demand." The SUPERNOVA project is a Horizon Europe funded initiative, aiming to establish quality and a high-performance for solar PV projects.
Other highlights included a discussion on strengthening skills for excellence in the solar PV sector where initiatives such as RESkill4NetZero, and the Global Solar Council's (GSC) Solar Training Standard Initiative. The RESkill4NetZero project funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ programme for training and education, will aim to create a clearly defined skills strategy for in-demand jobs across the renewables sector. SolarPower Europe will be leading on communications in the project. GSC's initiative aims to establish training standards for the global industry, to enhance workforce efficiency, ensure safe solar deployment, and the unification of the industry through universal and transferable skills.
During the Solar Quality Summit, the European Technology & Innovation Platform for Photovoltaics' (ETIP PV) Digitalisation Workstream organised a workshop on cyber resilience in solar PV systems, exploring strategies for mitigating cyber threats and safeguarding solar PV infrastructure. ETIP PV is a European Commission supported forum, bringing together research and industry experts, who are shaping the EU research and innovation agenda for solar PV. SolarPower Europe, together with WIP Renewable Energies, is currently chairing the Secretariat of ETIP PV.
Finally, Michael Schmela closed the conference, reflecting on the conference's key takeaways. One recurring message amplified throughout the two days: quality comes at a cost, but when done right, it drives returns, strengthens competitive advantage, and is key to driving the solar revolution.
SolarPower Europe and Intersolar were proud to be supported by UNEF, the Spanish Solar Association, and the SUPERNOVA project for this year's Solar Quality Summit.
We look forward to seeing you all next year, and continuing our discussions on everything quality assurance!
