© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Photo voltaic installations on 340 hectares encompass the village of Hjolderup, which consists of 12 households, the 300 MW photo voltaic park shall be Northern Europe’s largest and is being constructed by Danish European Vitality, in Hjolderup, west of Aabenraa southe
By Kate Abnett and Nina Chestney
STRASBOURG, France/LONDON (Reuters) – Europe’s inexperienced power transition is caught between a rock and a tough place. A flood of low cost Chinese language photo voltaic panel imports is driving file photo voltaic power installations. However those self same imports are crushing Europe’s few native photo voltaic producers.
Governments and trade are break up over the best way to reply.
Europe simply had a bumper 12 months for inexperienced power. European Union nations put in file ranges of photo voltaic capability, 40% greater than in 2022. The overwhelming majority of these panels and components got here from China – in some circumstances, 95%, Worldwide Vitality Company knowledge present.
But the inexperienced power increase hasn’t helped Europe’s few native photo voltaic panel producers, which have hit disaster level, crushed by cheaper imports and oversupply. Bulletins of manufacturing closures are piling up, and the sector has warned half of its capability might shut inside weeks except governments step in.
Policymakers are scrambling to reply, however are break up over how to take action.
German Economic system Minister Robert Habeck wrote to the European Fee in November, expressing concern that the EU govt was about to slap commerce restrictions on Chinese language photo voltaic imports, a letter seen by Reuters confirmed.
“I’ve heard that the Fee could also be aspiring to impose safeguard measures in opposition to imports of photovoltaic (PV) modules from China. I’ve very robust considerations about this,” the letter mentioned.
Habeck warned limiting Chinese language imports might kill off Europe’s fast enlargement of inexperienced power and make 90% of the PV market dearer. It risked bankruptcies amongst EU corporations that assemble and set up photo voltaic panels utilizing imported components, he mentioned.
A spokesperson for Germany’s economic system ministry declined to touch upon the letter.
Germany’s personal deliberate help for the sector has been thrown into turmoil by a authorities price range disaster.
Elsewhere, Spain has not dominated out tariffs on imports of photo voltaic panel supplies. The Netherlands desires to cowl photo voltaic PV imports with the EU’s carbon border tax, a authorities official instructed Reuters. And Italy final week introduced a 90 million euro ($97 million) funding in a PV panel manufacturing unit in Sicily.
PRICE WAR
In a speech on Monday on the photo voltaic sector’s issues, EU Monetary Companies Commissioner Mairead McGuinness provided no new help. She pointed to EU measures already underway, together with a legislation on account of be finalised on Tuesday, which goals to fast-track permits for native manufacturing and to present merchandise made within the EU, equivalent to panels, a bonus in future clear tech tenders.
On commerce restrictions, McGuinness struck a cautious tone.
“Provided that we at present rely to an important diploma on imports to succeed in EU photo voltaic deployment targets, any potential measure must be weighed in opposition to the aims we’ve got set ourselves in the case of the power transition,” she mentioned.
Trade itself is split over the answer. Photo voltaic producers have urged governments to step in to purchase up extra inventories of photo voltaic modules to ease the oversupply – and, if this can’t be carried out quick, contemplate commerce obstacles.
However the broader inexperienced power trade is against import curbs.
“You’ll be able to’t cut back dependency on China within the quick time period otherwise you don’t construct the initiatives,” Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, CEO of Portuguese utility EDP, instructed Reuters.
He famous that photo voltaic panel costs have climbed in america, which has duties on Chinese language imports. “It’s having an inflationary affect … the worth of panels is greater than double that of Europe,” he mentioned.
Even native producers say hopes of a aggressive native trade are dim.
Europe is in a “value battle” with China, mentioned Gunter Erfurt, CEO of Swiss panel maker Meyer Burger (SIX:), which plans to shut its loss-making German photo voltaic module manufacturing unit, citing an absence of supportive European insurance policies.
With some Chinese language photo voltaic companies capable of promote even beneath manufacturing prices, Europe is enjoying catch up. “The photo voltaic trade in China has been strategically subsidised with a whole lot of billions of {dollars} for years,” Erfurt instructed Reuters.
($1 = 0.9310 euros)
