Greater standardisation and digitisation of renewable projects needed to reach net zero, says report

September 6, 2022
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Greater standardisation of PV equipment and project design would help spur renewables deployment on the path to net zero, said the report. Image: Silicon Ranch.

Greater standardisation of renewable energy projects will be critical to reaching net zero by 2050, according to a joint report by Princeton University and engineering company Worley.

By 2030, engineers should be working to agreed global standards, with designs based on equipment and modules already available in the supply chain, the report said, which argued that bespoke infrastructure projects would hold back deployment as the world strives towards net zero.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

By 2026, the report wanted to see modularisation becoming more widely used, large-scale investments into supply chains and projects setting new benchmarks when it came to standardisation.

In 2030, however, standards and standardised designs would need to be widespread even in complex industries, with governments underwriting supply chains for pre-manufacture, lead-times of less than six months for complex equipment and continuous improvements on schedule benchmarks.

PV Tech has previously called for greater collaboration and standardisation within the solar industry to create synergies across the supply chain and drive deployment.

Meanwhile, more effort needs to be directed towards the digitisation of energy systems. Currently, there are bespoke digital systems for PV projects and “digital enablers” are being used across the supply chain. But by 2030, a “cradle-to-grave” digital project progression would need to be achieved alongside the emergence of standardised digital systems.

The report, entitled From Ambition to Reality: Measuring change in the race to deliver net zero, which is the second in a series, said the above measures would be needed to spur renewables deployment to the levels required to reach net zero by 2050. It also includes several other policy measures needed to reach that target, which you can explore in more depth here.  

Using Australia as a focus, the report looked at how to convert ambitious thinking into action, outlining five different shifts in the way infrastructure is delivered, which the authors believe are necessary to meet the scale and speed of mid-century net zero shifts.

“We developed the five shifts and the indicators of change to describe how the delivery of major industrial infrastructure needs to change to build the scale and enable the speed of delivery required to get to net zero by 2050,” said Sue Brown, executive group director of sustainability for Worley.

“But project delivery practices need to have radically transformed by 2030 for us to have any chance.” 

16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

October 30, 2025
Global net zero by 2050 is now “impossible” and the world is on course for temperature rises of 2.6°C, according to energy market analyst Wood Mackenzie.
October 30, 2025
US microinverter producer Enphase Energy posted increased revenues, margin and income in Q3 2025, as it doubles down on its US manufacturing operations.
October 30, 2025
Nexamp has secured US$600 million in financing for distributed solar and energy storage projects in the US.
October 30, 2025
New Zealand’s Genesis Energy has announced plans to acquire and develop a 271MWp solar project in Waikato, on the country’s upper North Island. 
October 30, 2025
Meridian Energy, a New Zealand state-owned energy company, has begun the construction of its 230GWh Ruakaka solar plant. 
October 29, 2025
NextEra Energy Resources added 3GW of new renewable energy generation and storage capacity to its portfolio in the third quarter of 2025.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
November 12, 2025
10am PST / 1pm EST
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK
Solar Media Events
March 10, 2026
Frankfurt, Germany