PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Swedish PV RTD may benefit from call for fossil fuel independence

On Sept. 13, a week after visiting SolarWorld AG's Swedish module manufacturer subsidiary Gällivare PhotoVoltaic AB (GPV), Prime Minister Göran Persson made a parliamentary speech on the opening day of the session, which in part called for increased support for renewable energy as Sweden moves toward a 2020 goal of fossil fuel independence. Whether that will translate into extra funding for PV is unclear.

	© Gällivare PhotoVoltaic (GPV) AB
Modular PM: Whether Swedish Prime Minister Persson's Sept. 6 visit to module manufacturer Gällivare PhotoVoltaic will lead to more PV support remains to be seen.

But Maria Hall, an executive officer on sustainable energy technology at the Swedish Energy Office (STEM), is fairly confident it will, especially when it comes to research and technological development (RTD). STEM has about 15 million SEK ($1.9 million) for PV RTD in 2005, which »is currently being assessed« for extra support as part of a bill being prepared for next year. While she could provide no details on what it might include for PV, Hall points that on Sept. 20, the government submitted a budget which, if approved, would raise renewable energy RTD by about 40 percent to around 740 million SEK ($95.5 million) in each of 2006 and 2007, with another 100 million ($12.9 million) in 2008. »This is favorable for all renewables,« she says.

Hall also speculates that when a 100 million SEK ($12.9 million) program for PV on public buildings with a 70 percent tax write-off ending in 2007 (see PI 1/2005, p. 8) has been evaluated, it could be followed with another demonstration program.

But how hard Persson, who also called for closures of nuclear power plants in June, would push for PV remains to be seen. Andreas Hinzer, general manager of GPV, says that during the prime minister's Sept. 6 visit to his company, which is currently expanding annual production capacity to 32 MW, it was clear Persson »got an education.« While Hinzer doesn't expect much in the way of incentive programs for installing PV, he believes Persson understood »how important it is to keep PV industry research and development going in Sweden.«