EU will help its photovoltaic industry to emerge from the Chinese “crisis”

The institutions of the European Union and twenty-two Member States, including Spain, today signed a declaration in which they commit to helping the European photovoltaic industry overcome the “crisis” due to China’s push, but without the will to enter into a trade war against Beijing.

“More urgent short-term actions are needed to address the crisis in the European manufacturing industry,” points out the so-called European Solar Charter, signed during an informal council of Energy Ministers held in Brussels.

The declaration is signed by the European Commission, as well as 22 Member States (Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic and Romania) and the sectoral association Solar Power Euerope and companies such as Enel, Engie or Solarwat.

They highlight that the deployment of solar panels in the EU in 2022 and 2023 in the heat of the energy price crisis saved 15 billion cubic meters (15 bcm) of Russian gas imports, but they regret the dependence on China.

“Most of the demand for solar modules in Europe is met by imports from a single supplier, China, a concentration that creates risks in the short term for the resilience of the supply chain and in the long term for price stability due to dependence on suppliers from outside Europe”, they warn.

The community photovoltaic sector, which has 650,000 jobs – the 90% of them in installation – and are expected to reach one million in 2030, has been burdened by a drop in panel prices in recent years that makes the situation “unsustainable”, they say.

“It is weakening existing European production and threatening planned investments in new manufacturing plants announced in the last two years”which has led some manufacturers to reduce production and announce that they will move to other jurisdictions, such as the United States, they indicate.

For this reason, and based on the Net Zero Emissions Industry Law, the EU undertakes to “promote a sustainable supply of high quality photovoltaic panels in Europe.”

The European bloc conspires to use all the possibilities of community financing and advocates actions such as creating favorable conditions for production and investments in the EU or seeking “innovative ways of deploying panels”, such as linking them to agricultural crops or car roofs.

They also suggest that in renewable auctions not only the price be taken into account, but also criteria such as resilience, sustainability, corporate responsibility, innovation and cybersecurity.

The European Commission, specifically, intends to finance more industrial photovoltaic projects, work with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and assist Member States in designing sustainability or corporate responsibility criteria in renewable auctions.

The community Executive also undertakes to “explore” the inclusion of solar panel manufacturing initiatives in projects of common interest that are financed with European funds.

Tension with China

The statement comes after the European Commission announced in recent weeks the opening of two investigations into alleged anti-competitive practices linked to China and related to renewable photovoltaic and wind energy, which follow another ongoing investigation into electric vehicles.

However, the prospect of a trade war with China over renewables creates uncertainty.

Germany’s Secretary of State for Energy, Sven Giegold, celebrated in statements to the press that solar energy is “on the rise in Europe”although he regretted that it was “thanks to subsidies to Chinese companies”.

However, the German was reluctant to impose trade sanctions because “they usually cause more harm than solutions” If you don’t measure well and lean por “not close the market” because the Twenty-seven could not “be self-sufficient at this time.”

In that sense, the statement indicates in its last point that “all evidence of alleged unfair practices presented by the industry or other independent sources”and within a year, the European Commission will evaluate progress on the commitments set out in the European Solar Charter.

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