A Letter From Our CEO (2023)
As RETC publishes its fifth annual PV Module Index Report, our work has never been more essential to securing a livable future.
Tackling the global climate crisis via mass electrification and deep decarbonization requires massive solar investment, manufacturing, and deployment increases. Deploying PV power systems at an unprecedented scale across ever-expanding geographies and policy environments using new products or technologies is not without risk—for manufacturers, developers, constructors, investors, and insurers.
Looking back at 2022, industry stakeholders navigated supply chain disruptions, systemic inflation, trade investigations, equipment detentions, construction delays, premature field failures, production shortfalls, and severe weather losses. The 2022 hail season in Texas underscores the challenges and risks facing solar industry stakeholders. According to multiple insurance industry reports, early summer hailstorms in the Lone Star State resulted in more than $300 million in solar project losses. Power magazine notes that these hail damages and losses were reportedly “more than twice as severe as other key renewable losses over the last three years combined.”
Are these record losses the result of a 1,000-year hail season? Or are they representative of a new normal brought about by a changing climate? Without certainty on this front, insurers are decreasing or declining coverage for solar projects and markets exposed to elevated natural catastrophe risks. Unfortunately, this retrenchment will not eliminate the underlying risks.
Human-induced climate change is an existential threat on a global scale. However difficult it may be to face the challenges of the day on a given front, the climate crisis is a battle we cannot afford to lose. While solar project risks may occasionally seem severe, the risk of inaction—of doing too little too late—is exponentially greater.
“Industry stakeholders must remain vigilant regarding the technical risks inherent to an accelerated pace of change and the short time frames between innovation and mass production. ”
In its Net Zero by 2050 report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) charts a narrow pathway by which the world can avoid the worst effects of climate change. This pathway assumes that solar will become the energy sector’s largest power source by the middle of the century. The IEA estimates that meeting this goal requires a twentyfold increase in solar capacity.
As the solar market grows in scale and sophistication, industry stakeholders must remain vigilant regarding the technical risks inherent to an accelerated pace of change and the short time frames between innovation and mass production. As an independent testing laboratory with the highest level of accreditation, RETC enables data-driven approaches to product and project development, which mitigate sources of risk and uncertainty. These services benefit solar industry stakeholders and the businesses and communities that require reliable power systems.
RETC is united with its customers in the belief that our collective work enables a safer and more sustainable future. Thank you for being our partners and collaborators in this momentous endeavor.
