EU Commission cautions against trade measures to support solar industry

The European Union needs to take into account its ambitious targets for solar power deployment before it considers any measures to curb imports of photovoltaic panels, wafers and other components, a senior EU official said on Monday (5 February).

Mairead McGuinness, the EU commissioner in charge of financial services, told the European Parliament that the EU was working on a vast set of instruments to support the solar industry. Currently, 97% of the panels deployed in Europe are imported, mainly from China.

“Given that we currently rely to a very important degree on imports to reach EU solar deployment targets, any potential measure needs to be weighed against the objectives we have set ourselves when it comes to the energy transition,” she told lawmakers.

The Commission has set a target of 750 gigawatts of solar generation capacity by 2030, from 260 GW in 2023.

Europe’s solar panel manufacturing industry has urged the EU to step in with emergency measures to avoid local firms shutting down under price pressure from Chinese imports.

If these measures, including buying up excess inventories of EU solar modules, could not be done rapidly, it urged the Commission to consider “safeguard” measures that could include import tariffs and quotas.

Solar industry calls for ‘emergency measures’ as manufacturers prepare to leave Europe

European solar panel manufacturers have warned they are “poised to shut down manufacturing lines” unless the EU takes emergency measures to save the sector, such as a buy-out of their inventories, which have piled up in recent years due to an influx of cheaper versions from China.

McGuinness said she recognised that solar panel prices had fallen by more than 40% due to global oversupply.

She said the EU had rules coming in designed to make public authorities consider factors other than price when holding tenders for clean-tech equipment. This would include a push to ensure that no more than 65% of supply is from a single source.

Under more flexible state aid rules, she said, the Commission had approved nine initiatives with a budget of more than €12 billion for clean-tech equipment, including solar panels.

The EU is also working with countries, including the United States and India, to reduce reliance on Chinese supply.

Net-Zero Industry Act: Solar sector warns against anti-China clauses

As EU ministers gather to discuss the proposed ‘Net-Zero Industry Act’ on Thursday (7 December), representatives of the European solar industry have warned against the European Parliament’s demand to exclude Chinese solar panels from solar auctions.

Read more with Euractiv

Berlin agrees diminished plan for hydrogen back-up power plants

A German government agreement will create state support mechanisms for up to 10 GW of newly-built gas power plants, opening the way for carbon capture in the energy sector and may delay the country’s 2035 plan for a fossil-free power system.