The European Parliament has passed the Net-Zero Industry Act, which now awaits formal approval by the European Council to become law. The European Solar Manufacturing Council has welcomed the decision, saying it “gives the green light for the purchase of sustainable, European-made solar panels.”
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have formally agreed on the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), which is designed to help Europe produce at least 40% of its annual deployment needs of strategic technology products, including PV modules, batteries and heat pumps.
The legislation was approved by 361 votes in favor to 121 against, with 45 abstentions. The NZIA will now have to be formally adopted by the NZIA European Council to become law. The council reached an informal agreement on this in February.
The NZIA mandates faster permitting processes for all renewable energy and energy storage technologies and sets maximum timelines for project approval depending on their scope and output. This work will be supported by the establishment of Net-Zero Acceleration Valleys, where parts of the evidence collection for environmental assessments will be delegated to Member States.
It also includes mandatory non-price resilience and sustainability criteria to be applied in public procurement, auctions and other forms of government intervention for net-zero products. Under these conditions, a minimum of 30% of renewable energy projects awarded in public tenders must meet resilience criteria, or a maximum of 6 GW in auctions per country per year.
The European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC) is one of the entities supporting the NZIA. The council’s policy director, Žygimantas Vaičiūnas, said the approval of the Members of the European Parliament gives the green light for the purchase of sustainable European-made solar panels.
“We urge member states to start purchasing from now, and not wait for the time thresholds in the regulation,” Vaičiūnas said. “European solar PV manufacturers are ready to provide European buyers with top quality and the most sustainable European-made solar panels.”
A statement from the ESMC said that while the law is due to be gazetted in June, member states can apply its provisions in advance.
The ESMC added that it welcomes the introduction of non-price criteria, but noted that the application of the provisions will only come into force in 2026 and in a limited part of the European PV market, “as public tenders and auctions exist out [a] relatively small share of all PV deployments in the EU… Accordingly, most of the impact of the application of the NZIA provisions will depend on their previous implementation and their broader scope – which extends beyond public procurement and auctions.”
Earlier this week, the European Parliament passed a law banning products made using forced labor, which the ESMC had previously lobbied for.
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