24 Jan ESTELA: General Assembly appoints a new Executive Committee. Dr. Luis Crespo is re-elected as President for the next 2-year term.

Brussels, 24^th Jan 2018. The General Assembly of the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA), re-elected Dr. Luis Crespo for the next 2-year term. Together with the President election, the Executive Committee of the Association was also newly mandated. 

Dr. Luis Crespo was appointed unanimously as President by the ESTELA General Assembly on Monday for another 2-year term – 2018-2020. The newly mandated Executive Committee (ExCom) of ESTELA is composed of three Vice-Presidents, i.e. J. A. Nebrera (ACS Cobra), J. Sandhu (ENGIE), M. Geyer (Abengoa), and 5 Members R. García (Protermosolar, the Spanish STE association), Augusto Maccari (ANEST, the Italian STE association), R. Pitz-Paal (Deutsche CSP, the German STE association), G. Casubolo (SQM), J. van Schijndel (Rioglass) and M. Di Prima (Eastman). We do believe that the new ExCom extending now from main developers to component manufacturers mirrors adequately the whole value chain of the STE sector in Europe.

Dr. Crespo, newly elected President of ESTELA, stressed that the STE deployment is quickly developing (Morocco, UAE, other MENA countries, Chile, South Africa, Australia and even China). “A dramatic cost reduction of STE occurred over the last few years, however, it happened outside EU. There is simply no good reason why Europe should lay behind non-EU countries and hesitate in recognizing the value of STE for both the power system and the European economy,” added Dr. Crespo. He also noted that STE at current cost levels is already competitive compared to any single RES technology plus the necessary bulk storage facilities to maintain their market value. “There is right now much at stake around the relaunch of a home market for the European STE industry,” also commented ESTELA Secretary General, Mr. Bial. This brings ESTELA to focus on the following action lines:

• Continued support to our industry in Europe via an enhanced dialogue with policy-makers (in their essential task of driving long-term energy policy strategies): the key point is to see some member states adapting their tendering practices for new renewable power capacities putting the focus on the value for the power system and the European economy rather than on pure costs;
• Supporting the implementation of the STE-Plan initiative for keeping the “Global technology leadership for STE in Europe” which includes besides R&I actions the completion of “first-of-a-kind” commercial projects in Europe;
• Extending the support of the association to its members for promoting their presence in the most active STE markets (Morocco, MENA, South Africa, Chile, Australia, etc.) always fairly addressing the mutual interests of the respective partners;
• Seeking for synergies and alliances with other RES sectors where competitive advantages for the European industry can be reaped through blending of complementary technologies as best response to specific needs.

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