Costs for all RES-technologies are now back to the price levels of the early 2020s. A notable exception is the solar PV market, where prices for solar panels have plummeted and are now well below the 2020 prices, due to manufacturing overcapacity and full inventory levels for solar modules.
Europe’s ambition to strengthen its renewable sector, especially as a reaction to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, has resulted in the Net Zero Industry and Critical Raw Materials Acts with concrete targets. These acts strive to give a reliable framework for the further development of the sector. Still, predictions of future cost developments, especially for the near future, remain to be prone with considerable uncertainty.
Despite obvious political will to support the domestic renewable energy industry and record-breaking installation numbers, European industry struggles to compete especially against the aggressive industry policies in China. Will the wind, batteries and electrolyser industry share the fate solar PV has faced over the past decade, that saw an entire industry move their manufacturing capacities to non-European countries? Europe faces a trilemma by having to combine three fundamentally conflicting goals: Minimize the cost for the energy transition, strengthen competitiveness of the European industry and secure access to critical raw materials by defending the principle of open trade.
Twice a year, we publish our report Technology Trends and Insights, where we review recent market developments of critical renewable energy technologies, such as wind power, solar PV, batteries and hydrogen, and their role in the current and future energy system.
We give an overview of important drivers and barriers for these key technologies. The drivers include technical but also political and market related factors. They are viewed in relation to the technologies’ historical and expected cost development. Additionally, we provide our insight into what role we think these technologies will have in the future power system and how this role is supported by innovation and technology development.
If you are interested in learning more about the Technology Trends and Insights report, please do not hesitate to reach out.
