Hot Takes from the SolarPower Summit 2025: Let's Flex!

Buckle up for 30 minutes of lively commentary, sharp analysis, and unfiltered opinions recorded live from the SolarPower Summit in Brussels. Join SolarPower Europe's Deputy CEO Dries Acke in conversation with a distinguished panel of energy influencers: Beatrice Petrovich, Ember; Tara Connolly, Beyond Fossil Fuels; and Bram Claeys, Regulatory Assistance Project. 

Hear direct from the experts as we ask them:

• What stood out in Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera’s opening speech? 
• What grabbed your attention and sparked your imagination from the sessions throughout the day? 
• What made you stop and think, wait a minute? 
• And most importantly—what are your hot takes? 

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Transcript

0:05

Welcome everybody at the very first Hot Takes panel at the Solar Power Summit. We are here in Brussels at the end of the first day of the summit and I take the opportunity to chat with one of our most prominent panelists and most prominent participants to the summit. Which goes of course, the Solar Power Summit doesn't only bring together the solar sector, it also brings together some of the key energy experts and energy influencers. And I'm extremely happy to have here with me Bram Claeys from the Regulatory Assistance Project, Tara Connolly from the Beyond Fossil Fuel Campaign, and Beatrice Petrovich from Ember. So let's have a little conversation with them about what they made on the first day of the Solar Power Summit and what they make of the setup of the Let's Flex campaign. So maybe I'll start with you, Beatrice, you are from Ember. You are a think tank that focuses a lot on data into action. You've been here also at the opening. So give us a little bit of your feel about what sparked your imagination at the first day. What did you take away from the speeches of the Executive Vice President, Teresa Ribera, the Minister of Poland? What do you make of the first day so far, Beatrice? Yeah, a lot of learnings and also I'm taking away, I think most of all a lot of stories, real story from the world. Well, flexibility is already happening, has been already deployed, especially also in countries that are emerging solar leaders. I was in the session on Central Eastern Europe, a lot of stories there where actually the industry is ready to embrace hybridization between storage and solar. Really like what I take this countries used to be like very much close to King Coal and now they are going towards the Queen Solar and they see an innovation potential, new jobs. So really taking away the success stories that really inspiring also in places where you don't expect it to be. Absolutely. From King Coal to Queen Solar, we really like that. That was an expression from the IEA boss, Fatih Birol as well at the last Solar Power summit. So Queen Solar, that's what we stand for. But maybe turning to you, Tara, and just thinking a little bit more about the political context than what you heard from the executive vice president because she was, in my opinion, she was giving quite an upbeat speech. She said things like the European Union is boringly reliable, we have the capacity. So it's a matter of self confidence. Do you agree with that political analysis? Is it a matter of Europe just being more self confident and taking the next step? Yeah, no, I really liked her speech and I thought it was exactly that it was a reconfirmation that solar is really essential to the energy transition also in Europe. I really like that she used the word energy revolution, because sometimes NGOs were considered a bit too extreme to use that phrase. So it's really nice to hear vice president of the Commission using that term. And I was also really impressed with this speech from the Polish minister. I think it was something very similar to what a lot of civil society would say, actually, and really agree with a lot of what she said about the benefits of solar, the benefits of flexibility, not only in terms of tackling the climate crisis, but also energy security and becoming a more secure, resilient. Yeah. And confident continent. Absolutely. You agree with that. Bram, do you agree with the upbeat mood music from the executive vice president? Because at the same time, there was also a session on flexible buildings. You were there where we had the mep, Thomas Pelerin-Carlin, who maybe gave a little bit of a different perspective. Europe is at war. We are sleepwalking into confrontation. So how do we deal with this? Yeah. Diverging interpretations. Yeah. I think that was really interesting to see how we're kind of on walking across a bridge, maybe to a different context. We're coming out of a context of, oh, we have to get rid of fossil gas. And flexibility is really playing a really big role for that. We have market dynamics for which we need flexibility and supports solar, which is a very practical discussion in many ways. But then we're confronted with new geopolitical threats and realities on the other side of the Atlantic, but much closer to home with Russia, of course. And to me, the narrative kind of blended. And, yeah, Thomas was really very clear in his message that we should not be naïve about what's going on and that solar and clean energy and micro grids have a role to play in being more resilient, which I think was a very clear message. But you could also see that we're not really ready, I think, to deal with that, to know how to actually tackle that. So defense next to climate and clean energy and security next to affordability. There's a lot of narratives, storylines that go through each other, and I think needs to be a bit more clear what we're going to be focusing on. Absolutely. Because we're all kind of looking at this phrase from Ursula von der Leyen, from many commissioners, like, we're staying the course on the green deal. From where you're sitting and from where you're observing what's happening on the European level, do you feel that we are Staying the course, Are we maybe. Should we do more than just staying the course? Are you confident that the European agenda is still in line with our climate objectives? Well, from the messaging that we get is clearly, yes, we are staying the course. Green deal is continued. There's now an additional clean industrial deal. At the same time, also in some of the interventions from the parliamentarians referencing the omnibus and simplification, and I do worry about that. And the ambition seems to shift more towards we need to be resilient and competitiveness. And there's not as clear a commitment as we saw under the previous commission. I think that's pretty clear. It was also clear when Kadri Simson was on the, on the stage and there's a difference. But does that mean that we should despair? I don't think so, because one of the statements that struck me a lot was when Arcelor Mittal on one of the other panels talked about how they look at flexibility and solar and they see it as a very natural partner and they support flexibility and they're all about like, well, we need more PPAs for solar because we're asking. So there is ways to go forward, but we can definitely not take for granted that the green agenda will be supported the way that it was. No, but thanks for referring to that panel because indeed, I think what Arsenal Mittel said gives a sense of unity between the energy suppliers, energy buyers, that there is a way forward. I think electrification was also a topic that came up in that panel very strongly. Maybe from, from a beyond fossil fuel point of view, from a campaigning point of view, how does the electric. How does electrification sound to you? Where does it stand in, in your, let's say, vision for the energy system and your campaign priorities? Is electrification the right way to go? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we know that electrification is one of the best, if not the best solutions for decarbonizing other sectors. Decarbonizing transport, buildings, you know, heavy industry. We know that. And that, you know, puts a lot of pressure and responsibility on the electricity sector. So I think that's important to recognize. We're not just decarbonizing the existing electricity sector. We also have to make sure that the electricity sector is able to deal with the future demand coming from the electrification of other sectors. At the same time, I think it is also important to remain focused on renewables alongside electrification. So I wouldn't like to see electrification targets replacing renewable targets. It would have been nice to hear something about the renewables Target today for 2040 from Teresa Ribera. And I Hope that does come soon. I think it's really essential that we keep this successful trinity of targets. Climate target, renewables target and efficiency targets. And with electrification as a core element. Very good. And maybe also for on electrification like knowing a little bit of the data as well. Like do you see progress on that in the next years? Have you done any kind of work on. Yeah. What it is looking like the current policies in terms of electrification of the economy. Yeah, I agree. It's a tool that we need to deploy and just because to decarbonize other sectors, but also to bring the benefit of cheap affordable renewable energies to other sectors. So it's about affordability as well, is about more security because you need to import less fossil fuels. So lots of reasons to go this way and to match with the theme of today that flexibility I think is important. If you electrify, you do in a smart way. So I think that's very important to keep in mind. Yes, electrifying. Let's do that with unlocking flexibility for this new demand that is electrified and was mentioned on the panel on flexibility from buildings. Huge potential. But sometimes it's disregarded even when you plan. And it's so important to keep in mind that we have this need to plan for that. So electrification. Yes, much better if a small smart electrification. Smart renewables based efficiencies. Yeah, exactly. No, but it's a really good point because we have these flexible billings reports. It says things like 50% of daily flexibility needs can come from buildings. So I think that's that number really stands out. Yeah. Is that happening in a smart way is the question. Indeed. And to what extent do we need to make sure that also heat pump rollout, EV rollout takes into account the combination with rooftop solar behind the meter batteries and all of that. Yeah. But I think I'm optimistic because I see also business opportunities there. And like Sol, you remember just using this opportunity to develop new tools for consumers that take off the complexity from all of this. Make consumers reduce their electricity bills while contributed to the system. Those who are making expansion grids less expensive because you have leverage better on the use of existing stuff you have. So yeah, see a lot of opportunities there. But smart from the start. So we need to act now on this. Otherwise too late. Smart from the start. And you work a lot on that on flexibilizing the energy system. The regulatory assistance project is almost a defining goal for you. Where are we with smart from the start? Like what are some key policies or regulations that you would highlight? Okay. Flexibility, you do it like this. Well, I think I'm optimistic as well because we do see a lot of movement in Europe and market and at RAP recently made an inventory of market products that are available to consumers that support a smart electrification, smart flexibility. And since the last time we did it two years ago, the offer has tripled. So there's three times more contracts, service providers that help consumers. So that's great. I think we also just came out of a regulatory reform with the electricity market. Regulation that was interactive, that was reformed and a lot of the focus was on flexibility. So now that needs to be implemented and one of the big things that needs to happen is lower the barriers to the kind of startups that we saw here today as well. Very inspiring. And flexi power to actually participate in the markets in a meaningful way. Markets, products that are needed to support the system. Regulation is there now, it needs to be implemented. So lowering those barriers is really important. I think product norms is another really important one. You referenced the heat pumps, products like that, EV chargers, they need to be made smart from the start. They need to be responding to product norms that make them ready to interact with the electricity system. Absolutely. And of course policy is important, regulation is important, but political will is also important. So maybe turning to you, Tara, how do you campaign on something like that? Like we all are in some kind of violent agreement that the next step is about flexibility, is about electrification. How do we make it campaignable? Like what are the entry points from civil society? No, it's a good question. I think that obviously telling stories, making people see how it really relates to their daily lives, you know, making it real for people. I mean, Acer recently reported that the smart meter rollout in Germany is about 1%, that 3/4 of people are still on a fixed contract. So, you know, right now people are not seeing it because they don't have that choice. So we really need to make it real. And the more that it penetrates the market, the more people that you know and people who know, people who benefiting from it, you know, the more it will spread and I think it will really accelerate. So I'm also quite optimistic about that. I think one thing that's important in all this, of course, is to ensure that vulnerable households are still protected. I think that's, that's really essential. And I think really the other central point to all this is the local grid operators, the DSOs, I think they really. There's a lot that needs to change there, I think in terms of making this happen. I think the incentive structure for DSOs needs to change. You know, governance and oversight could be more transparent and more robust. And I think, you know, questions over data and data access, these are all really, really important. And I think really we need, you know, DSOs to be a lot more like TSOs in a way, like running local energy markets, procuring that flexibility, facilitating innovative business models. And that is a big piece of unlocking a lot of the ideas that we've heard here today. It would be wonderful to find ways to make this campaignable, as we said, because of course I think the inertia on the system operator level, especially on the DSO level, the lack of capacity that they have is one of the, I think most difficult to crack nuts of the entire transition. And that's not to point finger or to blame, but something needs to happen anyway. Maybe you know what needs to happen? Well, fortunately we have regulation that needs to be implemented. So yes, we need to campaign, but there's also a lot of things that just need to be implemented at the national level that impact the DSOs and the TSOs. I think we should also not be blind to some of the threats or challenges, let's call them challenges, with I think a big political focus also on providing flexibility by building new gas power plants for example, and that can then maybe eventually, at some point in the future converted to hydrogen. That I think is a threat to demand side flexibility in batteries, non fossil flexibility that we need because they're going to be standing there, they're going to suppress prices that we need for investments. And this whole enthusiasm around installing new capacity mechanisms and new subsidy mechanisms for those gas power plants, I think that's something that we need to be wary of. And the way to avoid them is of course show that there's alternatives that work and that are cheaper, more cost effective and better for people. But let's, let's take both sides. Is that a campaign target?, Capacity mechanisms, design of it. Do we want them or do we just not want them? Or do we want them in a well designed way? Like where do we draw the line? Well, we recently published some research on this with Aurora and it showed that European governments since 2015 have spent over 53 billion on building new fossil fuel plants or maintaining existing ones in the system. And only a third of that amount was spent on clean flexibility solutions. So Bram is right that we clearly have a problem there and we know that new countries are looking to set up capacity markets. I think capacity markets are particularly problematic because they interfere with wholesale price formation, as Bram mentioned. So Yes, I think there's a lot that can be done in terms of improving how not only capacity markets are set up, but how adequacy assessments are done and also thinking about alternatives. There are plenty of markets in Europe that exist and run perfectly well without capacity markets and thinking about maybe alternatives like strategic reserves. But definitely there's issues with how it's done at the moment and it's definitely something that we would like to see change and that we are actively campaigning on. Clean flexibility is a good way of putting it. And I believe, Ember, you have come out with a report and with a strategy for clean flexibility. What are the elements you're highlighting in that campaign? Yeah, just also to connect to this security adjustments and clean flexibility that you mentioned. I think it's very important and we are trying to raise awareness on clean flexibility, what it is and have more data transparency on what's already on the ground and what's the potential? Because otherwise without this good input on transparency, what we have and what we can have, you risk like underrepresenting this in your system planning and then you end up doing this adequacy assessment when you need a lot of faster flexibility because this is what you used to have in the past, but now it's not even the future, it's the present. So part of our clean flexibility campaign is also about having more data, data transparency, open data around this and feed them into grid planning, adequacy planning so that playing level field and you can cost effectively plan. Where do you get the data from then? Is it still from the TSOs? To what extent do we need independent system operators? Let's call it out for what it is. When do we say what? When do we say that? Yeah, I think there's a lot that EU institution can do like already existing data platform that we have for the electricity sector are already advanced and ENTSO-E transparency platform doesn't report on flows from batteries, yet. But it's important to get that cover on existing platform and there are initiatives on also like tracking deployment of storage. I think we just need more and more of that. Something happened to you. You wanted to come in. I'm so happy that you mentioned independent system operators, things you think you would never say, but. No, it's. I, I do think so. An independent system operator is where you have the ownership of the grids, distribution or transmission, separated from the people that oversee it, that plan it, that operate it. And I think that's really key because that way you will get the most neutral and Objective assessment of how flexibility can be brought to the system. Not every answer to the problem is building new grids. We need a lot of new grids, but we need also a lot of flexibility. An independent system operator, the way that very recently has been done in the uk, where the NESO National Energy System Operator was created. I think it's interesting because that creates a dynamic of. More for the public good, operating of the. Of the energy system. But again, I do want to kind of call out this whole, this conversation that we started with, yeah, progressing on energy security, energy transition, and we're ending with we need an independent system operators. Are we missing something? Are we going too technical too quickly? Is there something else in the. Like, what was our political entry points or how do we tell this story that this is important for security, an independent system operator. For me, it's about getting rid of gas, Gas, fossil fuels, which was also part of the interventions that IEA made very clear. That was very striking to me. Like the additional solar that was built was replacing nord stream at 20 bcm of gas. Oh, if nord stream was operational. So the renewables that we build, that you build the flexibility that is not gas that is put into the energy system is about making us less dependent on imports from Russia, but also from the us and that's a good thing. And then all the other stuff is enabling that, is making that more efficient. But that's the story that we, I think, need to. And Tara, is that story being told sufficiently? Do we need to tell that story more better? Yeah, it is being told. But of course, you know, it's a question of which audiences you're reaching. I mean, I think, you know, we've moved on a little bit from the times when we were just sort of campaigning for renewables. You know, it does get more technical, but, you know, there's more people who are really engaged in the energy system now and understand it a bit better. I mean, everyone got a bit of a crash course during the energy crisis, of course, of how wholesale market prices are set. I think this question around grid operator governance is very technical, but it is going to impact on people's bills if we have inefficient investments in the wrong things and if we are not maximizing our use of the existing grid effectively. So people will understand that. They'll understand when on their bills, their bills are going to be higher. And let's not forget that on a normal household bill, most of the network charges you're paying are the distribution grid. So you know, we come back to the distribution grid again. But you know, I think campaigning around like our power, our grid, our future, you know, things like this can really help people understand that, you know. Yes. If you like renewables, you're also going to have to learn to love the grid or you're going to have to, you know, the two come hand in hand, they go together and you can't have one without the other. And this is. Yeah, there's work to be done on that for sure. Super. Yeah. Maybe just to kind of turn the conversation in another direction. Do you feel that we talk enough, that we interconnect enough between data research, the campaigners, some of the policy experts, the renewables industry? What is your assessment on the flow of information and the alignment on strategy? Is this going well? Would you like to see better, let's say alignment, structures? What's your assessment of this cooperation? I think partnerships are great, cooperation should continue and also because you can bring stories from on the ground what's happening and I think that's really key. And the knowledge sharing work that you do between your member, but also to the external, what is so important. And so I think this knowledge sharing, it just imply collaboration and let's keep doing that, let's keep changing about best practices data because data should be open so that everybody has the same view. And we go towards also having the resources to questioning some choices like why are you investing in that? We know there's this, so it's really good for the debate. So sharing data sharing, good practices, knowledge sharing. Yeah, please keep doing that. Any other perspectives on that question? Just to agree with what Beatrice said. I mean, I think you have access to a lot of data that we find very useful. I think also case studies, we recently launched a local energy solutions map highlighting best practice and you know, we cooperated with a lot of associations on that, including solar power Europe. And I think that worked really well for people to see, you know, how solar can be applied in so many different ways, benefiting so many different, you know, different people. I think it might be different at the national level. Maybe that's where things maybe could be better. That's also a question of capacity, of course, also for civil society in different countries. But in general I think it's going quite well. I don't know, I think we talk with each other all the time, we talk less with you. So I do think that we could engage more with the renewables industry with solar, with wind, because, yeah, there's the importance of exchanging information. It's Also the importance of assessing the political regulatory context in Brussels, but also of course in the member states. And I think that we don't take all the opportunities that we could take to collaborate better. So of course, I mean it's not like we don't talk, but I feel like we could talk more. There must be room for improvement. I'm not leaving this conversation without concluding that there's room for improvement. And maybe just in the same vein, last question. What kind of advice would you have for the solar sector? For solar power European association, but maybe for the solar sector in general. What would you like the industry to be better at? Show more of communicate differently. Do you have any advice for us as a sector you want to say? Well, just in the current political context, I would say with a focus on industrial competitiveness, I would say don't forget about people, don't forget about households, don't forget about that Many people are suffering in the energy crisis still. There's a lot of vulnerable people out there that are still struggling to pay their bills. Not everyone currently has access to solar. Not everyone has access to flexibility right now. And I think we need to have this as the most inclusive and fair and just transition we can. And the IEA actually just published a new report about that today, first of its kind. So I think that's really important. And stories, stories are so important. I think you're really good at storytelling. I think this is really brilliant. A lot of what the things I see. But you can never have too many stories. So more stories. I'm going to give a shout out to the people behind the camera because that's the storytelling over there. Thank you. Any other suggestions for some advice for the solar sector? I mean I think so today we saw your new tagline storage and flexibility. Solar storage flexibility. I think that's really telling that you make that link that's really good also. So the way that you are able to put messages in front of people is great. And so if you could use that ability more to connect with people also in the member states, I think would be really great. I can only agree keep doing the storytelling. The stories be very concrete people but also there to innovate. Like solar sector is evolving as versatile we learned but I mean has to be an action and also experimenting with new business models and new concepts that also that overcome maybe land conflict where they are so engaging communities there agri PV but also still story about the solar and flexibility together. And so keep tell those stories that make things very real and dare to innovate so if you learn about innovation, you might decide to copy that because, like, you're learning and perceive risks as lower. So maybe you spread this innovation. So, yeah, dare to innovate. You're versatile, so I know you can do right. Excellent. Thank you very much. Well, that's valuable advice and information. Thank you very much for being with us. This was the first of its kind Hopics Panel live from the Solar Power Summit in Brussels. See you next time.