<p>This solar plant in Fuentes de Andalucía, Spain, can supply uninterrupted power, and was the first commercial plant in the world able to provide a full day of uninterrupted power supply to the grid. Instead of sunlight, it uses solar heat (which is more easily stored) to generate electricity, and can remain operational for up to 15 hours without sunlight.</p>
2023 Photo Contest, Europe, Long-Term Projects

Net-Zero Transition

Photographer

Simone Tramonte

17 October, 2021

This solar plant in Fuentes de Andalucía, Spain, can supply uninterrupted power, and was the first commercial plant in the world able to provide a full day of uninterrupted power supply to the grid. Instead of sunlight, it uses solar heat (which is more easily stored) to generate electricity, and can remain operational for up to 15 hours without sunlight.

This project documents different technologies that offer possible routes of transition to a net-zero economy. The photographer visited innovative facilities across Europe, from Iceland to Italy, from 2020 to 2022.

Human-induced climate change is the largest, most pervasive threat to the natural environment and society that the world has ever experienced, according to the UN Human Rights Office, OHCHR. This prompted the European Union to establish targets to cut greenhouse emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 and to reduce them to net-zero by 2050. European companies seeking ways to achieve these goals are exploring renewable energies, new technologies for food production, and the circular economy as potential ways forward.

Simone Tramonte
About the photographer

Simone Tramonte is a photographer whose work focuses on documenting social and environmental contemporary issues. His interest focuses on analyzing the relationship between people and the environment and aims to document how innovative technologies can shape them towards a more sustainable future.  After obtain...

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Technical information
Shutter Speed

1/2200

ISO

115

Camera

FC2103

Jury comment

This project is an impressive example of solutions based journalism wherein the photographer's commitment to gaining access and incredible research offers a unique perspective into European efforts to secure a sustainable future. The project boasted beautiful aesthetics and its clinical scientific approach gives the audience space to visualize and conceptualize each solution without leading with emotion. The project is thought provoking and demonstrates the relationship between the scale of the crisis and the scale of solutions.