GSC at Intersolar Europe 2023: What’s next for GSC and the global solar sector?

By: Gianni Chianetta, CEO of the Global Solar Council

Intersolar Europe is always an important event to gather the entire global solar industry, filled with exciting launches, new connections, and knowledge exchanges. This year the Global Solar Council was thrilled to be involved in many initiatives throughout the entire week to help support the growth of solar across the world.

Over 100,000 people descended upon Munich from 13th to 18th June 2023 for the annual Intersolar Europe 2023, one of the largest events for the solar industry. Although the event may have 'Europe' in the name, it is in reality an increasingly global gathering, and the Global Solar Council (GSC) was proud to bring an international perspective to this year's edition through a delegation of its global members and activities throughout the week.

We kicked off the week with the GSC Board Meeting, marking one of the first in-person gatherings with many of our Board Members since COVID-19. Under the guidance of our new Chair, Máté Heisz, Director of Global Affairs at SolarPower Europe, we convened our Board Members from over 5 different continents representing national associations and corporates to help set ambitious global solar targets and explore our involvement in the Global Renewables Alliance on the road to COP28 (watch this space for more information on these exciting initaitves!).

Next we joined two of our GSC members at the launch of SolarPower Europe’s Global Market Outlook For Solar Power 2023-2027, a comprehensive report on the status of the world’s solar markets that we are proud to partner with. Rodrigo Lopes Sauaia, CEO of ABSOLAR and GSC’s Chair Elect, and Tetchi Capellan, Secretary General of APVIA, to present solar power trends and outlooks in their countries along with the findings of a special focus chapter that GSC contributed to for this year’s edition of the report.

Overall, the report found that the outlook for the global solar market looks bright with 239 GW of new solar installed in 2022, finally surpassing the TW-scale, a huge milestone for the industry. And in Southeast Asia, the solar boom is just beginning. Solar power growth is expected to bounce back for the first time since 2020, with 3.8 GW of new installations forecasted in 2023. This growth is expected to continue from 2024 onwards as more and more countries in the region look to solar as a important tool to reach their decarbonisation and increase security of supply amidst rising energy demand and growing economies.

Finally, we ended the busy week with the Global Solar Associations Workshop, which is always a highlight of the event. Our Chair, Máté Heisz, had the honor of delivering the welcome notes on behalf of the Global Solar Council. This gathering felt like a family reunion, as we connected with solar associations worldwide to provide updates on national markets and learn from each other. This workshop is an important platform to foster collaboration, share knowledge and best practices, and strengthen international cooperation. We firmly believe that through this type of international cooperation, we can achieve our shared goals of accelerating the growth of solar power globally to achieve net zero and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Altogether, Intersolar Europe 2023 was an extraordinary event that showcased the immense growth and potential of the global solar sector. As members of the Global Solar Council, we were thrilled to actively participate and contribute to the industry's development through meetings, reports, workshops, and coffee catch-ups throughout the massive exhibition and conference. Together with our global members and partners, we are excited to take the learnings from this event as we work together to build a brighter and solar powered future for generations to come.