Last week, the Trina Solar EMEA team has been at BloombergNEF (BNEF) Summit 2023 in London, meeting with investors and industry leaders to explore strategies and technological innovations to accelerate the energy transition. We were pleased to be at the event as a partner company, which gave our team the chance to share valuable insights with customers and peers, as well as Bloomberg’s experts.

Day one: Partner Spotlight

During his Partner Spotlight speech on day one of the Summit, Gonzalo de la Vina, President of Trina Solar EMEA, explored the importance of the industry working together to scale up green energy deployment and achieve a net-zero future for future generations. He touched on five areas in which the renewable energy sector must come together to achieve this:

• Sustainability across the solar industry
• Making renewable energy affordable for everyone
• PV’s role as part of a holistic new energy system that incorporates not just solar, but other technologies such as wind, hydro power and hydrogen
• The need for significant grid and infrastructure development at a national level
• The value of long-term collaboration and partnerships

This set the scene for a lunch presentation and customer panel discussion on the second day of the Summit, United for a bigger goal: Driving the energy transition in EMEA, hosted by Derrick Kowalski, Head of Sales Europe, Utility, and moderated by Tim Day, Investment Fund Manager at Trina Solar.

Day two: Key takeaways from an insightful discussion

The panel discussion was an opportunity for industry leaders to explore ways the industry can ‘get moving’ to build partnerships and establish shared goals to meet the global demand of achieving a net-zero future. The panel included representatives from Aquila Capital, Eni Plenitude, Next Energy Capital and Iberdrola.

The importance of trust, collaboration and transparency were at the heart of the discussion. According to Rossano Francia, Head of Global Procurement at Plenitude, supplier transparency will enable a level playing field for businesses in the renewables sector, while new regulations on sustainability will better support the industry to move forward together.

Kevin Mclelland, Global Construction & Procurement Director at Next Energy Capital added that localised manufacturing and accountability are important areas for the entire solar industry to focus on in order to drive sustainability.

While Fernando Torrico, Electrical Engineer at Iberdrola, believes that businesses should partner to review existing and historical energy systems as part of the switch to net-zero energy.

Following the panel discussion, Özer Ergül, Supply Chain Sustainability and Operational Excellence Executive at Aquila Capital, commented that the exchange was “truly insightful”. According to Özer, transparency is the foundation of sustainable collaboration, helping eliminate frictions that block the acceleration of solar, while “clearing the fog” in the years to come.

Other topics explored during the two-day Summit included:

• Improving energy security while maintaining a net zero trajectory, which was discussed by Greg Jackson, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Octopus Energy; Georgios Stassis, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Public Power Corporation; and Rui Teixeira, Chief Financial Officer at EDP Renewables, as part of an Executive Dialogue
• Greening up Poland’s energy course with Adam Guibourge-Czetwertynski, Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment, Poland
• Unlocking grid investment, with Javier Cavada, President and Chief Executive Officer, Europe, Middle East and Africa at Mitsubishi Power; Elean Leon Munoz, Chief Executive Officer, Global Networks Business at Iberdrola, and others

It has been a pleasure to be a part of BNEF Summit 2023, and Trina Solar thanks Bloomberg and its event partners for a fantastic event.