EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson told the Solar Energy Summit in Brussels that a specific EU strategy for solar would speed up approvals to support more solar purchase agreements and build European solar manufacturing capacity.
"We need to bring manufacturing back to Europe, and the European Commission is willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen," Simson stressed, adding that this would include help with project financing.
According to previous EU scenarios, 170 billion cubic meters of Russian gas will be replaced by 480 GWh of wind and 420 GWh of solar by 2030.
This month, the European Photovoltaic Market Outlook 2021-2025 released by solar industry organization Solar Power Europe shows that by the end of 2021, the cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity in Europe will be 164.9 GWh.
Aristotelis Chantavas, head of the organization, said that with the right policy support, the EU's solar power generation is expected to reach 1,000 gigawatt hours by 2030.
Chantavas pointed out that for the EU to achieve this goal, short-term hurdles must be overcome first. "We have a shortage of installers, licensing and equipment issues."
And completely get rid of dependence on Russian natural gas in 2027. The plan is expected to be announced in May.
Last week, the European Union and the United States reached a large gas agreement, the EU will buy at least 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas from the United States by the end of this year to replace energy imports from Russia. 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas means that US gas exports to Europe will increase by two-thirds.
