First step accomplished, ready to take the next: PV4All meets in Kaunas, Lithuania

The mission for this trip is clear: after the first phase of scoping the Status Quo, every partner needs to find a path to overcome the identified barriers small-scale PV installations face in their regions. And the timing for the second partner meeting could not have been better as the first result of the project was finished in the weeks before and gave a lot of ground for exchange between the different partner countries. Feeding from the contents of the “Atlas on options for small-scale photovoltaics”, partners discussed further steps for each country. To enrich the conversation with outside perspectives, two external PV experts from the Lithuanian Solar Energy Association and the Smart Grids and Renewable Energy Laboratory from LEI were invited to present the situation in Lithuania making clear that a limit of the grid to connect new photovoltaic plants is the biggest barrier for expansion of renewable energy in the country.

In sunny “PV weather” conditions many different varieties of PV plants were visited: from the 0.5 MW plant on the campus of the LEI to a 12.5 kW PV system on a single-family home that provides electricity for a geothermal heat pump over to the 45 kW facility on the headquarter building of Thermolink, the variety of PV was shown. Visiting these examples, it became clear that Lithuania has an attractive funding scheme in place to support the installation of PV and also the feed-in to the grid. Based upon these example installations all partners discovered similarities and differences in the legislation of their countries and could take home other business model cases into their discussion with regional and national stakeholders.