The European Commission increased its solar power capacity target to nearly 600 GW by 2030 as part of its energy policy response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with an interim target of 320 GW by 2025 that will almost double solar capacity in the bloc compared to 2020.

The EU Solar Energy Strategy, released May 18, forms part of REPowerEU, the legislative package that aims to support the bloc's transition away from Russian gas imports by 2027, partly by installing more green power.

The new solar target represents a 41% increase in ambitions compared to 420 GW under the EU's "Fit for 55" climate plan, trade group SolarPower Europe said.

Frontloading additional solar capacities will displace 9 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually by 2027, the commission said.

Rooftop solar will contribute much of the added capacity, with the commission proposing a legal obligation for commercial and public buildings to add solar panels; the deadlines would be 2026 for new structures and 2027 for existing ones. New residential buildings would be required to have solar panels by 2029.

"This is ambitious but realistic," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said at a news conference May 18.

The strategy will ramp up the deployment of green energy, with von der Leyen committing to increase the EU's 2030 renewables target to 45% from 40%

"By then, solar energy will also be the largest electricity source in the EU, with more than half coming from rooftops," EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said at a separate news conference.

'Terawatt age of European solar' on horizon

To facilitate a faster rollout of solar, the EU will also tackle permitting bottlenecks, described by the industry as one of the main project development obstacles.

"Who would have thought it possible only a few months ago that we could wean ourselves off of Russian fossil fuels in 5 years?" Frans Timmermans, executive vice president of the commission, said about the plans.

Timmermans said a speedier renewables build-out will bolster the EU's Fit for 55 plan, through which it aims to achieve a 55% reduction in emissions by 2030, despite higher coal burning in the next couple of years as countries switch from gas to coal-fired generation.

"On balance, I hope we will have even a plus in terms of our emissions reductions," Timmermans said at a May 18 news conference.

Additional investments in solar under REPowerEU would amount to €26 billion between now and 2027, on top of the investments needed to realize the objectives of the Fit for 55 proposals, according to the commission's analysis. Most of this will be through private financing, which will in part be incentivized through subsidies.

"The new EU solar strategy ... brings us that much closer to the terawatt age of European solar," Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, said in a May 18 statement.

Some reactions to the REPowerEU strategy focus on gaps in tackling more sticky gas use cases, such as heating.

"It is relatively easy to put solar panels on the roof of an office or company outbuilding or to install a wind turbine on a production site. Greening the heating demand is where the real challenge lies," Gerben Hieminga, senior sector economist at Dutch bank ING Groep NV, said in an emailed statement.

Supply chain re-shoring

While tasked with delivering mammoth goals, the global solar supply chain is grappling with increased regulatory scrutiny of workers' rights. In December 2021, the U.S. government issued a de-facto ban on imports from the Chinese region of Xinjiang due to concerns over forced labor, which China denies.

The move has already disrupted the solar energy sector in the U.S. In Europe, lawmakers have taken a different path by issuing transparency requirements for importers, which will ask companies to document environmental and human impacts of goods.

In Europe, recent months have amplified calls for re-shoring some of the world's solar manufacturing capacity back to the region, once the front-runner on the technology.

"A strong European solar manufacturing base supports the strategic resilience of the renewable transition while unlocking millions of euros in GDP," Naomi Chevillard, head of regulatory affairs at SolarPower Europe, said in a statement. "The European Commission must now deliver a clear toolbox of measures and coordinate EU financing to support reinvestment into manufacturing capacities."

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