Big Buyers Working Together to launch Community of Practice on solar panels

The Big Buyers Working Together project is preparing to onboard its members to the Community of Practice (CoP) on sustainable solar panels.  This is the second of ten communities of practice announced by the project following the one on Zero-Emission Construction Sites (ZEMCONS). The CoP’s are the result of a needs assessment undertaken by the project which gave public buyers the opportunity to indicate their main areas of public procurement interests and challenges, seeking to find innovative and sustainable solutions to current procurement challenges.

The Dutch working group launched a template with criteria that were used as guidelines for the procurement on solar energy infrastructure. The work of this group will be the starting point for this ‘European’ Community of Practice. The group is committed to develop and test methods to procure more sustainable Solar panels and provide insights to business-cases for procuring them. First step is to review the Dutch documents and discuss how they can be adapted into other national contexts. These documents are already uploaded and shared among the members of the Community of Practice on Sustainable Solar.  The group also wants to get more insights into market engagement, both at a European and a local level.

It is expected that the use of solar infrastructure will grow explosively in the coming years, as it can play an important role in the European energy transition. Solar is often the cheapest clean energy option, can be deployed fast, and aligns with targets set out by national governments and the European Green Deal. Public procurers interested in the topic still have the opportunity to join the CoP.

The community of practice on sustainable solar panels is already online on the digital platform of public buyers! New participants are encouraged to report their interest in the work of the Community and to use the opportunity to shape the work of the CoP. If you work for a Public Authority, and you think that you could provide added value to the CoP and benefit from it, then you are welcome to express your interest by sending an email to Big Buyers Working Together Secretariat, at big.buyers@eurocities.eu