OpenLobby.EU
Explore

European Solar Thermal Electricity Association

ESTELA

ESTELA is a European Industry Association promoting the deployment of all concentrating solar thermal technologies in Europe, the European countries and other member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Guidance to facilitate the designation of renewables acceleration areas

23 Feb 2024

ESTELAs position on Renewable energy - guidance on designating renewables acceleration areas The European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) is a non-profit industry organization to promote the deployment of all Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) technologies in Europe, the European countries and other member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean. ESTELA gathers members from the CST industry and research institutions along its whole value chain that actively promote sustainable green energy produced by CST technologies and thermal energy storage (TES). ESTELA advocates for a sustainable energy transition, a strong EU industry leadership and a 100% renewable energy system. For more than 15 years the association has worked in close collaboration with policy makers, industry and Research & Innovation stakeholders to highlight the need for green transition and the security CST can bring to energy networks across Europe. ESTELA welcomes the European Commission's initiative to provide guidance on designating Renewables Acceleration Areas (RAAs), however we stress the importance of a broader scope that fully encompasses all renewable energy technologies, ensuring a balanced and comprehensive approach. While we appreciate the focus on wind and solar technologies in the current version of the Commission's document, ESTELA underscores the necessity of explicitly encompassing solar thermal technologies in all their forms, including: Concentrated solar power (CSP) for electricity generation, also referred to as solar thermal electricity (STE); Concentrated solar thermal systems, including large-scale installations for district heating and industrial process heat. By ensuring that the RAA initiative embraces a truly comprehensive and inclusive approach to accelerating the deployment of all renewable energy technologies, we can contribute significantly to a more sustainable and secure energy future for Europe. ESTELA remains committed to working collaboratively with the Commission and other stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the RAA initiative and accelerate the transition towards a Europe powered entirely by renewable energy.
Read full response

Response to Communication on revamping the SET Plan

27 Oct 2022

Estela welcomes the revamping of the Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) and the possibility given to stakeholders to give feedback. The European SET Plan aims to boost the transition towards a climate-neutral energy system by developing low-carbon technologies. The future SET Plan needs to meet the objectives of the European Green Deal and REPowerEU through stronger synergies between national, industrial and European energy-related R&I measures to achieve ambitious but necessary EU targets for deploying smart clean energy solutions. Therefore, the renewed SET Plan should address the challenges that exist today in order to evolve toward a net zero carbon energy system in 2050. The renewed SET Plan aims to address the following pressing needs: increasing the performance and cost efficiency of smart clean energy technologies as well as the efficiency and resilience of clean energy value chains, including those at industrial manufacturing level; accelerating the development and the deployment of smart clean energy technologies developing an overall strategy to exploit synergies between R&I strategies and the innovation landscape at national, European and international level, and specific synergies between the various instruments providing financial support for R&I at national and EU level; contributing to the long-term energy transition modelling to ensure a positive impact on the different sectors of the economy; paying more attention to cross-cutting issues in the SET Plan, e.g., environmental needs (biodiversity, zero pollution, circularity, and resource efficiency) and social needs (health, safety, security, availability and affordability of energy, public engagement); dealing with challenges to the energy transition which have emerged since the SET Plan was rolled out, such as: i) the urgent need for energy security and to replace fossil fuels from Russia, ii) the availability of critical materials, iii) digitalisation, iv) reducing EU technology dependence and increasing its resilience, and v) assessing impacts through integrating life cycle assessment into R&I; taking into account the increasing role of enabling technologies, e.g., energy storage, smart grids and clean hydrogen, as well as conciliating their use within the blue economy and the environment; contributing to ERA objectives, especially to help an innovative and risk-taking industry to shape a resilient, green and digital future; enhancing the way the research, innovation and competitiveness chapters are updated and monitored in the NECPs. Estela welcomes these challenges and would like to suggest another objective. Concerning the electricity system, decarbonisation of the electricity system currently relies on intermittent electricity sources. To manage this intermittency, enabling technologies like energy storage, demand flexibility or green hydrogen will be needed and are taken into account in the SET plan objectives. Another important way to enable a net zero carbon electricity system is to increase the diversity of the renewable production, both of geography and of technology onshore wind, offshore wind, solar PV, concentrating solar power, geothermal, hydropower, etc. The SET plan objectives should also foster synergies between the different renewable technologies and the enabling technologies like energy storage and green hydrogen. The SET Plan should also be completely aligned with the RepowerEU Plan of the European Commission. The RepowerEU plan states that a massive speed-up and scale-up in renewable energy in power generation, industry, buildings and transport will accelerate Europes phasing out of Russian fossil fuels. It will also, over time, lower electricity prices and reduce fossil fuel imports. The SET plan should also incorporate an objective to foster the needed massive speed-up and scale-up in renewable energy.
Read full response

Meeting with Laure Chapuis (Cabinet of Commissioner Kadri Simson), Tatiana Marquez Uriarte (Cabinet of Commissioner Kadri Simson) and

22 Sept 2021 · Draft Climate, Energy and Environmental State aid Guidelines.

Response to Revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001

21 Sept 2020

The European Solar Thermal Electricity Association, ESTELA, welcomes the initiative of the European Commission to review the RED II, considering recent developments in the health and environment sectors. Considering the recent State of the European Union speech by President Von der Leyen, reviewing RED II seems more than ever appropriate to deliver on the climate and energy objectives. With a stronger positioning of manageable RES, thanks to a benevolent framework of RED II, progressing towards at 38% of RES, and even further, is reachable and sustainable on the long-term. The key points to be addressed are: 1. The EU RES target must be increased at least up to 36-38%, since RES have shown reliability during the pandemic crisis and represent proved opportunities for economic recovery 2. Cooperation mechanisms, as currently mentioned in RED II, are an underexploited tool for achieving higher RES penetration in the Energy Union, for which they should be preserved and further promoted 3. RED II must provide a clearer and stronger framework to trigger more political engagement from MS, especially concerning tendering processes with conditions that provide real participation opportunities 4. Technologies must be recognised for the specific values they can bring to the system as a whole, and not just answer short-term considerations: stabilising the power system, decarbonising industrial processes, generating green fuels for transport, etc... Manageable RES, such as concentrated solar thermal technologies (CST), which can take part in all these aspects, will favour a further penetration of RES in the EU energy mix. Full recommendation is enclosed to this feedback.
Read full response

Response to Strategy for smart sector integration

8 Jun 2020

ESTELA welcomes and supports the initiative of the European Commission to put forward a strategy for a strategic smart sector integration, provided it covers real needs at real costs. Concentrated Solar Thermal Technologies (CST) are an important part of the “European Solar Industry” which encompasses much more than the sole PV sector. CST are a mature technology, with a track record of over more than three decades. It has already “pulled” the development phase of a “solar industry” in Europe and is immediately available to provide bulk storage capacities. CST can make a sustainable energy transition happen right now, without waiting for “hoped-for-viability” of other solutions. This can be a building block in meeting the upcoming bulk storage needs in the electricity and process heat sectors that could be used for harder-to-decarbonise industries. These technologies can help decarbonise electricity, industry, transport, and even agricultural sectors, if the conditions allow a fair competition and combination of technologies. CST should therefore be considered in the sector integration, which integrates the assets of all renewables and decreases the full system costs of a power system (instead of shifting them to peak hours after sunset). Main recommendations: 1. The implementation of a fair investment and support scheme which should reflect: ⋇ Technology neutrality: a proper consideration of specific assets of each technology, in particular flexibility, should be guiding investments, beyond LCOEs. This also implies a better taxonomy, to avoid any financing of fossil fuels which hinder the cost-effectiveness of renewables ⋇ Optimisation of investments and EU resources: many technologies are already there. Scaling-up projects and investing in higher TRL future projects would avoid scattering overweighing investments in “hoped for” technologies. 2. The valuation of hybridisation to accelerate a decarbonised sector integration if: ⋇ A fair retribution of the added value of each technology is recognised which would lead to a higher share of flexible renewable energies in the technology choices. In addition, cross-sector technologies should also be valued ⋇ The progressive phasing out of gas: gas must be phased out. If hybridisation between CST and gas plants can help the industry sector at first, subsidies should be removed for the gas sector, and if enabling a swifter advance in decarbonisation of the heat and transport sector only green gas should be considered. 3. The need to set firm targets on: ⋇ Cross-border exchanges: between Member States and the EU Neighbourhood, to increase technology transfer and sector integration with increased cooperation Please find enclosed ESTELA's full contribution.
Read full response

Response to Union renewable Financing mechanism

3 Jun 2020

ESTELA welcomes and supports the initiative of the European Commission to put forward a draft act for a regulation on the Union renewable energy financing mechanism. This mechanism will support the EU on its path towards a climate-neutral continent by 2050. It must therefore provide the conditions for the EU electricity system to decarbonise without relying on backup fossil fuels. All non-intermittent renewables (concentrated solar, geothermal, ocean…) must be considered to provide flexibility and reliability to the system. For the EU to meet its general binding targets for 2030 and 2050, a further penetration of renewables is needed. However, this will not be possible without further flexible, manageable renewable load. Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) technologies are full components of the “European Solar Industry”, which encompasses much more than the sole PV sector. CST are a decisive support to a wider deployment of intermittent technologies (especially PV but also wind) in- and outside Europe, as show examples from Morocco or Israel . As a mature technology, it has been operating for over three decades and has a proven track record in Spain, which favoured the apparition of a European technological leadership. This leadership is today at risk if R&I initiatives are not consolidated by industrial realisations. It is therefore very important for Member States to be able to state preferred technologies when being host or contributing countries. The reviving of the technology would also lean on the implication of major EU industrial players. To maximise societal and macroeconomic opportunities through the green economy, incentives should be given to host and contributing Member States to participate in the reconstruction of the EU CST leadership. A higher statistical allocation could be granted to Member States awarding contracts to EU companies. The creation of sustainable jobs should also be part of the awarding criteria, for both short- and long-term perspectives, as well as the sourcing of European components. On the grid side, additional value should be granted to projects which contribute to the flexibility of the system, for instance involving non-intermittent renewable energies. This would favour investment for further commercialisation of these technologies. CSP plants can be installed in Southern Europe with storage, which brings flexibility for electricity systems at competitive costs, avoiding fossil-fuel backup. A 50MW plant in Spain with a 7.5h storage capacity, such as La Africana, can supply 170GWh per year. Southern European countries and the Mediterranean neighbourhood have the best solar resources for Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants to be built. Therefore, the possibility to include third countries in the mechanism is of major importance. Morocco is already well advanced in the technology, with a recent auction at USD 7 cents/kWh for an 800MW CSP-PV installation. Turkey has also expressed interests in the technology, presenting a Direct Normal Irradiation similar to Spain’s in some parts of the country. Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia are also preparing development project for CSP plants. In the EU, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Cypriot NECPs aim to produce electricity with CSP, while Greece plans to scale up the commercialisation of CSP R&I projects. A solid basis for the technology is already there. It could have geopolitical effects on world markets, create new energy corridors which increase energy security, and support the European Union's Neighbourhood Instrument policies. It is therefore crucial for this mechanism to fully reward technologies like CST which are a building block towards a flexible, reliable, and fully renewable EU electricity system.
Read full response

Meeting with Miguel Arias Cañete (Commissioner)

15 Nov 2018 · State of play and future developments of Renewable Energy in Europe

Meeting with Yvon Slingenberg (Cabinet of Vice-President Miguel Arias Cañete)

8 Jun 2015 · Information meeting on the current situation of the Solar Thermal Electricity industry