Intersolar Europe, the benchmark event for the solar industry, held a new edition in Munich and beat all its records with more than 115,000 visitors and 3,000 exhibitors. This year, the most important trends revolved around hybrid and large-scale plants, as well as floating photovoltaics and agrivoltaics as the most promising niches.

The Basque Energy Cluster coordinated the joint stand called “Solar PV Basque Country” with the participation of Ormazabal and Sener. During the busy three-day event, they presented their solutions and technological portfolios for the sector. Ormazabal showcased its range of products for the integration of renewables and storage in the medium-voltage electricity grid, while Sener focused on its ORUGA software tool for the 3D optimisation of the design of photovoltaic plants.

The Basque Energy Cluster had its own space at the stand to showcase the capabilities of the Basque solar photovoltaic value chain and several collaborative projects, such as the ESECA alliance, funded by the European Commission in the COSME Programme; the Elkartek EKIOCEAN project, funded by the Basque Government’s Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and Environment; and the AGROVOLTECH project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism (MINTUR) through the Innovative Business Group Support Programme (AEI).

Several members of the Basque Energy Cluster had their own exhibition space at the fair, such as Gamesa Electric, Ingeteam, Jema, Zigor, Pronutec, Cegasa, Uriarte Safybox, Mondragon Assembly and Becquerel Institute. The photovoltaic inverter manufacturers segment features many Basque countries and it is one of the few parts of the manufacturing chain that is still carried out mainly in Europe, compared to the clear predominance of Asian companies worldwide.

Despite the fantastic exhibition area and high level of attendance this year, the industry is cautious as a slowdown is expected in the growth of the solar market. Added to this, in the particular case of the European industry, is the concern about the loss of manufacturing capacity despite the attempts to reactivate it promoted by the ESMC (European Solar Manufacturing Council), the ESIA (European Solar Industry Alliance) and the European Commission through the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), which comes into force this June.