Renewables are experiencing unprecedented growth. According to the IEA, nearly 940 gigawatts (GW) will be deployed worldwide each year by 2030, with solar energy playing a key role. However, the full use of renewable power generation will require an increasing degree of flexibility, digital power grids and system-integrated elements, such as battery storage systems.
Europe is also embracing renewables, especially solar power. A recent study by SolarPower Europe shows that the expansion of photovoltaics (PV) capacity has reached a milestone in 2024, with a record 65.5 GW installed. By 2030, Europe’s installed capacity is set to increase to 816 GW – tripling today’s capacity in just six years. And Germany is leading the way: According to the latest analysis by the German Solar Association (BSW-Solar), its cumulated PV capacity exceeded the 100 GW mark in 2024, covering around 14 percent of the country’s electricity consumption.
Decreasing costs and innovative applications
One main driver for the success of photovoltaics is cost efficiency. According to IRENA, the cost of solar power in 2023 was 56 percent lower than the cost of electricity generated from fossil fuels. PV systems combined with battery storage are also competitive: In Germany, their levelized cost of electricity ranged between 6.0 and 10.8 euro cents per kilowatt hour in 2024, making them much cheaper than fossil alternatives.
In addition to economic viability, technological innovations open new horizons. Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), colorful solar cells and agricultural PV can be used for a wide range of applications. Consumers are increasingly combining their PV installations with residential storage systems, heat pumps and charging stations, while hybrid power plants are booming in the utility-scale sector.
Challenges and system change
But the energy transition is not without its challenges: grid congestion, insufficient electrification of heating and transportation, and discrepancy between generation profiles and consumption. Digitalization, flexibilization and storage integration are key to creating a stable, sustainable energy system based on renewable sources of energy. Hybrid power plants and battery storage play a key role as they ensure grid stability, optimize yields, and provide flexible capacities.
As a result, storage technologies are seeing rapid growth: According to a BloombergNEF survey, the global market grew by 76 percent in 2024, reaching 69 GW. Large-scale storage systems act as “virtual transmission lines” that stabilize grids and provide grid stability services, with AI-driven software systems optimizing their efficiency.
Flexibility as key
Flexibility is increasingly moving into the spotlight of the energy transition. Consumers can feed in electricity or adjust their consumption to prevent grid congestions and provide flexibility. There is enormous potential in bidirectional charging – especially when it comes to vehicle-to-grid technology, which allows electric cars to serve as mobile electricity storage. They can store electricity temporarily and feed it back into the grid when needed. E.on says that a single e-car could theoretically power eleven homes, and Fraunhofer estimates that the EU could save up to 22 billion euros each year with this technology. It could also reduce the EU’s need for stationary intermediate storage devices by up to 92 percent.
Innovations and networking at The smarter E Europe 2025
Some suppliers are starting to offer commercial vehicle-to-grid services for integrating vehicle batteries into the energy system that also reduce the financial burden on the consumer. This year at The smarter E Europe, there will be an exclusive special exhibit on this topic. The smarter E Europe, Europe’s largest alliance of exhibitions for the energy industry, brings together more than 3,000 exhibitors and over 110,000 visitors. Specialist conferences and exhibition forums offer cutting edge knowledge on the latest industry topics.
This year, the alliance of exhibitions will take place in Munich from May 7–9, 2025. Highlights include the special exhibit on bidirectional charging, the presentation of The smarter E AWARD and the Start-up Area, where young companies will have 4,000 sqm of exhibition space to present themselves.
Further information
www.thesmartere.de
