PV prosumers on the rise – how Europe can empower more people to produce, consume & sell their own electricity.
On 20 November 2019, EU HEROES worked with fellow EU Horizon 2020-funded projects “iDistributedPV” and “PVP4Grid” the European Policy Workshop “PV prosumers on the rise – how Europe can empower more people to produce, consume & sell their own electricity”.
The event was attended by a prominent audience of around 60 participants, representing European institutions, national and regional authorities, as well as a wide range of other stakeholders, such as researchers and academics, the renewable energy industry, NGOs, consumer organisations and consultancies.
The conference aimed to provide information for decision-makers in the European Commission, the European Parliament and national governments, working on new policy initiatives that will be part of the upcoming European Green Deal and the EU’s 2050 long-term strategy for decarbonisation. The audience engaged in a lively debate that looked into the reasons why Prosumers are not fully benefitting from installing solar panels. This discussion provided insight into how policy and regulations could be improved at EU level, but also focused on how Member States can transpose the Clean Energy Package (in particular Articles 21 and 22) into national legislation and submit National Energy and Climate Plans by the end of 2019.
The workshop began with presentations by experts, including representatives of EU HEROES, iDistributedPV and PVP4Grid, to set the context for the workshop and provide insight and experience of the delivery of PV projects.
Copies of these presentations are available at https://www.pvp4grid.eu/presentations/ )
Workshop discussions were then held covering the following issues:
- Administrative barriers to PV prosumption and potential solutions
- Regulatory barriers to PV prosmption and potential solutions
- Financial barriers to PV prosumption and potential solutions
- Technical and network integration barriers to PV prosumption and potential solutions
Topics discussed within the workshops included; ensuring that processes for PV development and connection are user-friendly, the role of municipalities in encouraging deployment of PV, the importance of clear long-term policy signals from government, tax breaks and incentives, role of flexibility markets and the future role of network operators.
The workshops will inform policy recommendations that will be produced by EU HEROES, as well as upcoming events to be held by EU HEROES. These will be announced on this website shortly.
