The Coronavirus caused the biggest global crisis we have seen in decades. Governments are struggling to control the disease and support affected sectors. The virus continues to have a strong impact also on the energy sector as it slows down transport, trade and the economy.
Because of lockdown measures electricity demand has been reduced significantly, which has also had an effect on the power mix. Residential electricity demand is increasing, but the demand in the commercial and industrial sector is decreasing. The reduced demand has lifted the share of renewable energies in the electricity supply, as their output is largely unaffected by the demand. Renewables are the only source in the energy sector with a growth in demand, which is driven by larger installed capacity especially due to priority dispatch regulation and power grids and their operators have managed heightened shares of wind and solar PV very well.
Necessary greener investments
According to the International Energy Agency, despite supply chain disruptions that have delayed or put on hold projects, the expansion of solar, wind and hydropower is expected to increase renewable electricity generation by nearly 5% in 2020. We can conclude that demand reductions and growth of the renewable energy share goes hand in hand and both will continue in 2021 as long as we are not over Covid 19.
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Along with all these developments, global CO2 emissions are declining to similar levels of 10 years ago. Nevertheless, if we are not careful the rebound in emissions may be larger than the decline, unless the investment to help the economy is dedicated to a cleaner, greener and more sustainable energy infrastructure. This is what we expect to achieve in Europe driven by the Green Deal. The concept of the Green Deal to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union to zero by 2050 would allow the EU to become the first continent to be climate-neutral.
Reach Big Zero in 2050
For the Green deal vision to succeed, it must be considered as part of the solution to handling the aftermath of Coronavirus. A “Green Recovery” is the only opportunity to avert the next catastrophe - climate change. The EU’s 750€ billion "Next Generation EU" economic recovery plan contains actions that should "strengthen" the Green Deal. However, will this be enough to reach the big Zero in 2050? So far, there are no specific guidelines for the allocation of the funds. Even if there are different assumptions about the amount of the required budget for the achievement of the climate targets, the general opinion is that the amount required will be considerable and cannot be covered by the fund.
What about Sharp? What does Sharp do? How did and does the Coronavirus change the business and in which way? How does the Coronavirus affect our jobs and what will the future look like? What lessons have we learned from the Coronavirus?
Continuous strong PV market demand in EMEA
In 2020, we saw continuous strong market demand for PV in EMEA and, despite Coronavirus, Sharp achieved strong turnover growth. Further, Sharp has evaded pandemic fatigue by offering stability and reliability in uncertain times, which has been appreciated by our customers. Sharp grew its EMEA customer base and secured year on year growth in both turnover and profit.
Sharp
We were able to show our partners great stability and reliability even during the Corona crisis. Our valued customers understand more than ever that stability in an organization is what matters in a crisis. We learned how important it is to be agile and flexible and how quickly our experienced 20 years old Europe rooted organization adapts to changes. Sharp has had established offices across Europe for over 50 years and has been providing renewable energy solutions and PV since 1994 with our EMEA Energy Solutions HQ based in Hamburg, Germany.
Move into the virtual world
While there have been and continue to be significant changes to the way we work, care for families and trying to stay healthy, one of the significant challenges was to transform how we have personal contact with existing and new customers and move into the virtual world. In 2020, we have participated in several virtual trade fairs and conducted regular webinars with great success. Trying new solutions has been a process of learning by doing and has resulted in a steep learning curve.
The other challenge was maintaining a sense of hope and enthusiasm in a very difficult situation, while adapting to new ways of working, customer buying behavior and business models.
With the courageous support of our customers and employees, we switched to flexible and innovative working models, which enabled us to remain fully operational while working remotely. The largely positive changes within our organization concerning digital processes is a new beginning. We will continue to make improvements in our use of digital technologies to improve our customer journey and ensure greater empathy. Meanwhile we strive to maintain a workplace that enables our employees to collaborate effectively. So even from a safe distance, we work as a team.
Political challenges and corporate measures
The PV industry persevered despite unconducive frameworks. Following the recent debates in Berlin, we saw only half-hearted measures from German politicians to amend the renewable energy law. Elections take place in Germany in autumn 2021 and climate change will be one of the main points on the agenda. For Chancellor Angela Merkel’s successor to set the right path for reaching climate neutrality by 2050, the overall target must be a significant contribution to an EU green transition towards a sustainable future as, alongside the Coronavirus, the protection of the climate and renewable energy is still the big and driving global topic.
On a corporate level, Sharp follows its own strict environmental vision and strong actions. Based on “Increasing green shared value,” Sharp has established the environmental policy in fiscal 2013 and has worked toward its internal environmental target of GHG emissions avoidance, achieved through customers’ use of energy-generating and energy-saving Sharp products, more than balancing out the negative impact of GHG emissions from its business activities across the entire supply chain.
Sharp Eco Vision 2050
Based on its Basic Environmental Policy of “Creating an Environmentally Conscious Company with Sincerity and Creativity”, Sharp has updated its environmental policies and formulated the Sharp Eco Vision 2050, a long-term vision with 2050 as the target year. Under this vision, Sharp is facing the challenge of creating a sustainable global environment by providing the world with clean energy, while minimizing the environmental impact caused by greenhouse gases, waste, and other by-products from its business. In addition to numerous different climate initiatives, Sharp has installed PV systems to its domestic and overseas production bases and is advancing the use of renewables to do its part to create a decarbonized society.
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Despite ongoing upstream supply uncertainty and EU market restrictions due to the Coronavirus, we remain optimistic for the coming months. Within the renewables sector across EMEA, we will continue enhancing Sharp’s reliable and trusted brand presence while maintaining our efforts to develop a new normal where our environmental strategy strengthens resilience and creates value for both our employees and our customers.
Grit, motivation and determination
Sharp is dedicated to accelerating its digital transformation to offer a perfect customer journey and we will focus even more on customers and their needs. Digitalization offers so many opportunities, which we are ready to embrace.
In summary, Sharp Energy Solutions Europe will continue to participate in a growing market with a great team. Our organization and our employees showed grit, motivation and determination by adapting fast and very well to the unprecedented challenges of 2020 and we will continue this journey in 2021. That is the best pre-condition for business continuation, profitable growth and satisfied customers.
We have exciting plans to implement new business models related to project development, and the digitalization of the customer journey and we will continue to participate in the political discussion to fight for more courage when it comes to further expansion of renewable energies and climate protection. We will not give up until we get 100% renewables and we welcome you to join us on this journey! (PT/hcn).
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