Tripling Renewable Energy by 2030 - Time 4 Action: Status and Next Steps

premium account

Recording of Tuesday, June 18, 2024 | The smarter E Europe | Conference Program | Language: English | Duration: 10:23 .

Global Renewables Alliance CEO Bruce Douglas Highlights Need for Accelerated Renewable Energy Deployment and Massive Financing to Meet COP28 Commitments by 2030

Bruce Douglas, CEO of the Global Renewables Alliance (GRA), highlights the organization's mission to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030. The GRA supports a broad spectrum of renewable sources including solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower. Emphasizing the necessity for long-duration energy storage and green hydrogen to meet their goals, Bruce discusses past achievements such as securing commitments at COP28. The target involves installing around 7,000 gigawatts in seven years or roughly three gigawatts per day. The GRA’s agenda includes urgent reforms in permitting processes, grid infrastructure development, supply chain management, financing solutions amounting to $10 trillion cumulative investment by 2030 ($1.5 trillion annually), and workforce skill enhancements. While there has been record-breaking growth in renewables deployment globally—evidenced by new investments outpacing fossil fuels—fossil fuel subsidies persistently drain resources needed for renewable expansion. Douglas stresses significant regional disparities: some areas like sub-Saharan Africa need up to twelve-fold increases in renewable installations. Despite positive trends such as declining costs leading to higher capacity installations with equal investments and exponential growth highlighted by recent reports from RMI on solar EVs and battery technology advancements—the transition away from fossil fuels remains insufficiently addressed.

Automated summarization by AI Conver

Bruce Douglas
CEO
Global Renewables Alliance
Belgium

As solar energy continues its strong global growth trajectory, exceeding all expectations, more and more obstacles are appearing on the long way towards completing the energy transition. The question is: what is needed to unleash solar's full potential in Europe and globally, and what can realistically be achieved? This session will discuss:

  • Global Market Outlook for Solar Power 2024–2028 (report launch)
  • Solar power's role in European and global decarbonization strategies
  • Solutions for unlocking the vast potential of solar

Further Talks of this session:

Speaker

Michael Schmela
Executive Advisor
SolarPower Europe
Belgium

To Talk

Speaker

Dr. Juan Rivier
Head of Global Regulation
Iberdrola
Spain

To Talk

Speaker

Vegard Vollset
VP- Head of EMEA Renewable
Rystad Energy
Norway

To Talk

Speaker

Sonia Dunlop
CEO
Global Solar Council
United Kingdom

Dr. Rodrigo Lopes Sauaia
CEO
ABSOLAR - Associação Brasileira de Energia Solar Fotovoltaica
Brazil

Walburga Hemetsberger
CEO
SolarPower Europe
Belgium

To Talk

Further Content
Publication
The German PV and Battery Storage Market

The first of its kind, this study offers an overview of the photovoltaics and battery storage market in Germany.

Rutger Schlatmann and Angelika Harter
Perovskites: The Race for the Future of PV?

The smarter E Podcast Episode 258 | Language: English

June 25, 2026

HZB researchers explore perovskite tandem solar cells, efficiency gains, and the challenges of bringing the technology to market.

Publications
Global Market Outlook for Solar Power 2025–2029

SolarPower Europe’s annual Global Market Outlook for Solar Power is the most authoritative market analysis for the solar sector.

The smarter E Europe Conferences 2026
Panel Discussion of the Session: Solar Made in the EU

Tuesday, June 23, 2026, 02:30 pm

The smarter E Europe Conferences 2026 | Conference Program

premium account

Despite strong research capabilities and the presence of leading production equipment suppliers, Europe has been struggling to rebuild competitive wafer-to-module manufacturing, while the USA and India have enabled a local renaissance in solar manufacturing. In Europe, even long-established inverter manufacturers have been losing considerable ground. With the EU's Net Zero Industry Act yet to deliver momentum, attention is turning to the upcoming Industry Accelerator Act. This session examines how policy, investment and value-chain strategies can strengthen domestic manufacturing and increase internal value creation.Key topics:Overview of EU and national policy frameworks to support local manufacturingStatus of Europe's solar manufacturing value chainInvestment gaps and competitiveness challenges Strategies for triggering a sustainable solar manufacturing revival 

Intersolar Europe Conference 2023
Panel Discussion - Intersolar

Tuesday, June 13, 2023, 09:30 am - 11:00 am

The smarter E Europe Conference 2023 | Conference Program

free account

Get Inspired. Together to the Next Level!

You are using an outdated browser

The website cannot be viewed in this browser. Please open the website in an up-to-date browser such as Edge, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.