Trade body SolarPower Europe has launched the International Solar Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI) to help generate demand for European-made solar products in “high-growth markets” beyond Europe.
At an event yesterday in Brussels, SolarPower Europe launched the initiative with support from eight European solar manufacturers, in the presence of figures from the European Commission and European Investment Bank.
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The ISMI will aim to deliver on four key goals: supporting European solar manufacturers, advocating for policies that will encourage exports to “EU partner countries” outside of Europe, reinforcing the European solar supply chain and securing public finance from initiatives such as the EU’s Global Gateway strategy.
The latter initiative could be particularly significant, as SolarPower Europe looks to align the ISMI with an EU programme that has already been in effect for four years. The initiative plans to mobilise as much as €300 billion (US$320.5 billion) of investment into projects to develop the “societies and economies” of partner countries, and was launched with a €150 billion investment package to support projects in African countries in particular.
The ISMI’s work to help develop new markets for European solar goods, and increase demand for such products, could help to alleviate a considerable oversupply issue in the global solar sector, that has seen demand for new products in the key markets of the US, China and Europe cool.
“EU legislation, like the Net-Zero Industry Act, and the new European competitiveness agenda is driving demand for resilient solar products at home,” said Máté Heisz, director of global affairs at SolarPower Europe. “ISMI is set to complete the picture by driving demand for European products and expertise abroad, while simultaneously helping Europe’s partners to deliver their economic and sustainability goals.”
However, the announcement follows growing concern as to the struggles of European solar manufacturing, headlined by industry stalwart Meyer Burger closing down its European manufacturing bases and relocating to the US. Last summer, Holosolis, one of the manufacturers that indicated its support for the ISMI, told PV Tech Premium that Europe “has everything, really” to build a robust manufacturing sector, but this has yet to materialise.
Indeed, another of the initiative’s supporters, inverter manufacturer SMA Solar, cut more than 1,000 jobs last year, and announced losses of €117.7 million in its most recent financial results, demonstrating the unstable ground many European manufacturers find themselves on. SolarPower Europe called for an “action plan” last year to support European inverter manufacturers from an event hosted at SMA Solar’s headquarters.
