Glennmont Partners, together with BNP Paribas Asset Management, brought together key industry stakeholders and financial investors in Paris on Tuesday 27th November at a seminar discussing how renewables are driving the energy transition and the investment opportunities that this presents.
Joost Bergsma and Francesco Cacciabue Partners of Glennmont Partners and the BNP Paribas Asset Management team were joined by Alexis Gazzo, Partner at Ernst & Young, Xavier Daval, CEO of kiloWattSol and Nicolas Wolff, VP and General Manager – Western Mediterranean at VESTAS.
Attendees of the event explored the most recent trends in the European energy transition, the reduction of the cost of clean energy making them highly competitive and the expected continued rapid growth of clean energy infrastructure.
Keynote speakers discussed investment trends within the industry and considered how innovations in solar and wind within the sector are creating new economic opportunities.
Alexis Gazzo, Partner – Climate Change and Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young (EY)
Alexis Gazzo of Ernst & Young, who has over two decade’s worth of experience working in the clean energy sector, noted how solar and wind capacities in the European region will continue their strong development in the next decade.
The bulk of investments by 2027 will be concentrated in Germany, France, the UK and Spain. Investments are expected to be higher in wind technology compared to solar. Recent auction results worldwide confirm the decreasing cost and competitiveness of renewable energy technologies fuelling their continued growth. Also, battery costs are dropping and will soon constitute a competitive solution for power storage. Ernst & Young has identified 3 “tipping points” which will have a profound impact on future business models and investment opportunities – and forecast an acceleration of clean energy adoption.
Xavier Daval, as CEO of kiloWattsol has been working in the solar space sector for over twenty years looking at hundreds of solar projects across the world as a technical adviser. Xavier noted that solar can meet global energy needs very well. There is ample, free solar resource available and a strong match between levels of solar irradiation and where population density is highest.He noted that France is well placed to add more solar and the French target to achieve 40GW of solar by 2030 is entirely achievable. Solar costs have come down very significantly and the technology is one of the most competitive and highly complementary to wind energy.
Nicolas Wolff of Vestas highlighted the benefits of on shore and off shore wind. Costs have also rapidly come down and higher rotors and higher hub heights have allowed to capture more wind. Technology improvements, localised knowledge and economies of scale have matured the sector.Vestas is working closely together with its end customer and earlier in the value chain to deliver a more tailored and cost competitive products. Also, Vestas continues to evolve its technology and is looking for examples at multi-rotor turbines in on shore wind.
