Europe is attempting to wean itself off its dependence on Russian fuel by boosting its renewables trade, particularly solar energy.
Photo voltaic is seen as important to Europe’s vitality safety, local weather objectives, and jobs. Europe will set up a record-breaking 41.4 gigawatts of photovoltaic energy in 2022 – a rise of 47% in comparison with 2021– in response to the trade group SolarPower Europe.
However now China dominates the photo voltaic trade.
Figures from the Paris-based Worldwide Power Company predict that as much as 95% of the photo voltaic trade could possibly be concentrated in China by 2025.
Burghausen in Germany is residence to Wacker Chemical substances, one of many world’s main producers of polysilicon — the uncooked materials for photo voltaic panels.
“We’re actually what we name an energy-intensive trade,” Tobias Brandis, President of Wacker Polysilicon advised Euronews. “You’ll be able to think about that right here and at our second web site in Saxony, we use about 0.7 to 0.8% of German electrical energy demand, which is kind of massive.
“For future funding, it’s most vital to have a aggressive vitality stage, but additionally to have a predictable vitality stage,” he added.
Whereas Wacker is considered one of Europe’s leaders in polysilicon, most is produced elsewhere in China.
“China is basically taking the motion there. They’ve taken it as one of many industries that may be very strategic and they’re investing strategically on this trade,” defined Tobias Brandis.
“Europe, and the identical is true for america, will not be solely competing with velocity, but additionally with respect to, say, manufacturing situations.”
As a part of its broad technique to handle this, the EU established the Photo voltaic Alliance, which brings collectively companies and stakeholders to extend manufacturing capability, promote investments and diversify provide — establishing the trade in Made in Europe.
Talking on the launch, EU Commissioner for the Inside Market Thierry Breton spoke a few ‘inexperienced paradox’, the place photo voltaic vitality is important for decarbonisation and vitality independence however the place Europe is simply too depending on China.
The Single Market facilitates cooperation in Europe to extend manufacturing. Free motion permits corporations throughout the worth chain to work collectively – to spice up Europe’s solar energy trade.
Recycling photo voltaic panels: A tall order
Within the southeastern French metropolis of Grenoble, French startup ROSI is coping with the opposite finish of the photo voltaic chain — recycling.
The rise in photo voltaic panels put in in recent times is mirrored within the improve in panels nearing the tip of their life. This represents an enormous problem for the recycling trade.
“We’re in a position to recycle as much as 3,000 tons of photo voltaic panels, so about 100,000 panels will be recycled yearly,” Antoine Chalaux, Common Supervisor of ROSI advised Euronews.
“However tomorrow it is not going to be sufficient to recycle 3,000 tons, we’ve to recycle ten thousand tons as a result of in France the circulation of waste will improve,” he revealed.
This has led to an explosion within the variety of photo voltaic panels throughout Europe that can quickly should be recycled.
ROSI has developed a method to extract essentially the most precious components from a photo voltaic panel — silicon and silver — utilizing pyrolysis to unlude the assorted items. A triage course of separates the photovoltaic cells from the glass and a chemical wash removes the silver.
ROSI can also be scaling up, with a manufacturing unit opening quickly in La Mure.
With the one market, Europe sees sustainable innovation like this as a method to turn into extra resilient and aggressive globally.
“Recycling is an space the place Europe excels and Europe nonetheless leads on this space,” defined Antoine Chalaux. “If we need to rebuild an environment friendly photovoltaic trade in Europe, on a big scale, recycling these supplies will make our trade extra aggressive.”
With local weather, vitality safety and jobs at stake, it is important that Europe can reinvent its solar energy trade.
