The SMP Montage Grid Conference in Hamburg came to an end on Thursday, 20 June 2019 under the motto "Power Purchase Agreements: the Future". The North German solar construction specialist had invited selected EPCs, decision makers and trade journalists from six countries to discuss the current market development in Europe in light of expiring subsidy programmes. The renowned climate researcher Prof. Volker Quaschning gave the keynote speech on energy transition and climate protection.
Around 70 participants came together for the international discussion forum for current developments within the solar industry at German celebrity chef Tim Mälzer’s "Bullerei" studio. PPAs and the fossil fuel phase-out, legal aspects of long-term electricity supply contracts and PPA best practice for the Spanish market were among the presentation topics.
"We are currently seeing how drastically PPAs are changing the solar markets in Europe," says Michael Manfred Fischer, CEO of SMP Montage. "When state subsidies expire, PPAs will be the basis for the economic viability of large-scale PV plants' continued operation. Meticulous PPA drafting is therefore a must, whether EPC, operator or offtaker. That's why there was such a heated discussion at the Grid Conference."
The keynote speech “Energy Transition and Climate Protection – Let's do it better than Trump!” by renowned climate researcher Volker Quaschning from the HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences particularly ensured lively exchange among the participants. "A climate-sensitive industry like ours simply has a heightened focus on the problem," says Fischer, "it's not just a question of superficial issues such as yield optimisation, but of ensuring sustainability, and we all need to be involved in this."
List of topics from the SMP Grid Conference 2019:
Keynote:
Energy Transition and Climate Protection – Let's do it better than Trump! by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Volker Quaschning, HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences
Discussion panel:
PPAs in Europe (Christian Ahrens, Aquila Capital; Jens Leiding, Orsted Markets GmbH; Ilker Aksoy, Prysmian Group)
Other lectures:
What's the fossil fuel phase-out got to do with your PPA? (Carlos Perez-Linkenheil, Energy Brainpool GmbH & Co. KG)
Legal aspects of long-term electricity supply contracts (PPA) as an instrument of post-EEG marketing (Tobias Röttger, lawyer, LL.M.Eur)
PPA Best Practice: Spain (Dietmar Geckeler, denersol)
Fixed vs. Tracker (Jasper Frenzel, SMP Solar Montage & Planungsgesellschaft mbH)
About SMP Montage:
SMP Solar Montage & Planungsgesellschaft, or SMP Montage for short, is a specialist engineering service provider for the global solar industry.
Since 2008, the German company with its head office in the city of Hamburg has been supplying the full range of construction services for large-scale PV projects of 100 kW and more – from site preparation and site set-up to excavation and civil engineering, from mechanical construction and frame assembly to electrical installation and cabling of solar modules to site management and construction logistics. In early 2018, SMP developed their own mounting system, now available in various versions.
The assembly process for maximum area utilisation in standalone PV parks, which has now been adopted as standard across the industry, was co-developed by SMP co-founder Marc-Bernd Schipper in 2007.
In April 2017, the Financial Times named SMP Montage as one of their “FT 1,000”, the fastest growing companies in Europe.
SMP Montage has carried out some of the most prestigious large-scale solar PV projects in Europe: the currently largest subsidy-free Portuguese solar park in Ourique, at 68 MWp, the realisation of the then largest photovoltaic single-roof installation in the Netherlands on 8 hectares of commercial roof space in Venlo in July 2018; the largest standalone solar park upon completion in the Netherlands in Zeeland (nominal output: 54 MWp) as well as the by then second largest standalone photovoltaic installation in the UK in Crundale, Wales (nominal output: 37 MWp, completed in July 2014).
SMP has been a long-standing realisation and innovation partner for leading European EPC service providers such as Solarcentury, ibvogt, e.on, Belectric, and Conergy. In the spring of 2019, the total nominal output of projects completed by SMP exceeded 1.1 GW.
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