ISER: How important is the relationship between the industry and their respective governments? What does a harmonious relationship bring? bE: in recent months the solar pV industry is making lots of political, as well as business, headlines – more than is necessarily good for the industry right now and we risk losing sight of the tremendous inroads that solar pV has made in recent years. We are concerned with how a globally independent and competitive pV industry can be fostered and maintained rather than support measures that complicate the access to any of its core markets.
“We are concerned with how a globally independent and competitive pV industry can be fostered and maintained rather than support measures that complicate the access to any of its core markets.”
i would like to add that the efforts of local solar and renewable energy associations should be commended as they function as the interface between government, industry and the public. in emerging pV markets which typically have high solar potential but which tend to still be heavily reliant on fossil fuels and cautious about embracing new forms of energy generation, associations are doing a really important job of establishing dialogue between government and industry, and breaking down some pre-conceptions about pV. Even in markets where renewables and pV have been subsidised for some time the challenge for associations has been to keep the lines of communication open with governments, especially as the market has developed very rapidly. in uncertain times, industry associations have critical roles to play in ensuring that our sector is represented clearly and fairly. We know that solar pV by its very nature cannot exist in isolation and that increasing renewable energy generation is just part of the challenge. the renewables revolution, be it solar, wind or other technology, is forcing us to think about how energy is produced, stored, distributed and so on, which has a far reaching impact on the wider electricity infrastructure and market. When you look at it from this perspective, no one can afford to operate with a ‘silo’ mentality and cooperation is critical. Fortunately, from ipVEa’s efforts and experience, this spirit of openness is working and we are doing exciting
16 | IPVEA UPDATE | SEPTEMBER 2012
things with associations that are representing adjacent sectors or those that are representing solar in new markets.
ISER: R&D is essential within the sector – what needs to be done to maintain a strong programme? bE: post-Solyndra, in the midst of global recession where governments are struggling to justify investment in r&D programmes and venture capital is chasing new cleantech opportunities, certainly solar is not the rising star of the hi-tech boom it was a few years ago. but pV still accounts for less than half a percent of global electricity supply. that speaks volumes – pV has enormous potential to come down in cost and fulfil many applications for renewable energy generation. like any hi-tech industry we will always advocate for more support, not necessarily for fundamental research or start-up funding, but to ease the stretch between lab-to-fab. this is where many promising young companies with a sound technology and strategy risk failure right now. the ‘Solyndras’ and the ‘Konarkas’ make the headlines and are used to show that pV is somehow a failure, the reality is that the success stories in terms of start-ups, companies such as innovalight which got bought by Dupont, get forgotten or overlooked. the majority of pV manufacturing is now done in asia, as bloomberg new Energy Finance estimates chinese manufacturers have produced almost 70% of the world’s solar panels, compared with 40% three years ago. While manufacturing is shifting to asia, pV producers – ones that intend to survive long term – have never been more reliant on production technology and most of this is supplied by companies originating in Europe – germany in particular – and also the uS. in the past four years efficiencies of monocrystalline silicon solar cells have increased on average by 2%, which means modules today have more power output. Many manufacturers have roadmaps that continue to push up cell efficiencies. this is not possible without r&D and innovation, in fields that include automation and robotics, laser systems, wet chemical processing, machine vision and