Where is photovoltaics heading? What are the trends and innovations? Answers to these questions, opportunities to share experiences and network with experts and industry representatives were provided at the Intersolar Europe Conference 2021 on October 6 and 7 at the Conference Center Nord (CCN) on the Munich exhibition grounds.
In 2020, 138.2 gigawatts (GW) of PV power were newly installed around the world, representing an 18% increase in new installations compared to 2019. This brings the global installed PV capacity to 773.2 GW. With this 22% increase, the PV sector has passed the milestone of three quarters of a terawatt (TW) of installed capacity. All signs point to growth in 2021 as well.
This growth is due not least to the EU's Clean Energy Package, which aims to increase the share of renewable energies to 32% by 2030. Digitalization is also driving the market: Machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data are creating new opportunities for system design, system configuration, predictive maintenance, monitoring and yield and weather forecasts (forecasting). All of this serves to reduce electricity generation costs and thus the profitability of the systems.
Innovations are also advancing former niche technologies such as floating PV and agri-photovoltaics (agri-PV). One promising business model is installation on reservoirs for the use of hydropower. The first pilot applications are also being launched in the maritime and offshore sectors.
Agri-PV, the efficient dual use of land for agriculture and solar power generation, is also developing dynamically. New incentive programs are being created in countries such as Italy and Germany, and the world's first Agri-PV association has been founded in France. Standardization, which is a prerequisite for widespread promotion and a market ramp-up, is also making progress. The combination of urban vertical farming with the use of solar energy has great potential for food security, resource-conserving economic activity and climate protection.
