During the report launch, the IEA summarised their 6 main recommendations:
1. Bring planning up to date
Strategic and integrated planning across sectors
2. Unlock investment
Improve how grid operators are renumerated
3. Address barriers
Regulatory overhaul toward proactive grid development
4. Secure supply chains
Firm and transparent project pipelines to enable resilient supply chains
5. Leverage digitalisation
Digitalised infrastructure and advanced distributed resources
6. Build a skilled workforce
Create a pool of talent with digital and electricity skills
Solar Connection
Optimising all steps of the grid connection procedure is paramount to achieve an efficient and faster integration of assets, for small to large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) projects
Read the paperThe solar industry supports these calls for actions, something which is complemented by our recommendations from our recently published, Solar Connection' report with Eurelectric. Our report was the outcome of three roundtables we held with grid operators. In a letter with 6 other associations, SolarPower Europe has also called for more political attention to be directed towards the grid. The Commission's upcoming grid action plan - still to be defined - must also include a grid flexibility action plan. Solar projects in the pipeline cannot wait 10 years for grids to be built.
As said by Fatih Birol at our SolarPower Summit in March 2023, "solar is queen of the energy systems." Future growth should not be wasted - or held back - because of poor grid planning!