7th Meeting of the Energy Transition Working Group

On Tuesday, 3 September, the 7th meeting of the working group 1 “Energy Transition” of the Japanese German Energy Partnership took place in Tokyo! The new Co-Chairs of the WG, Dr. Julian Donaubauer (Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Klimaschutz) and Toshiyuki Shirai (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) used the meeting to exchange on the current developments in German and Japanese energy policy and discuss future activities of the WG.

Both sides underlined the importance of solar PV for a successful energy transition. The ministries discussed challenges of establishing sustainable and reliable supply chains for renewable energy technologies. METI specifically highlighted the potential of new PV-technologies such as perovskite solar-cells, with commercialization planned in the neat-term. BMWK additionally pointed to the often-untapped potential in rooftop solar and for new applications such as agri-PV. Additionally, the importance of circular design and recyclability of PV-modules was underlined.

The WG1 of the energy partnership will deepen these discussions in a public workshop on sustainable and reliable supply chain for solar PV and new PV-technologies in Q4 2024.