26 countries sign ‘European Wind Charter’ to shield EU industry

All EU countries except Hungary have signed a joint declaration to protect Europe’s wind industry from “unfair trade practices” coming from Chinese manufacturers.

“Today is a huge day for Europe’s wind energy industry,” said Giles Dickson, the CEO of lobby group WindEurope which initiated the charter. “26 countries have committed to implement the actions set out in the EU’s excellent Wind Power Package,” he added on Tuesday (19 December), after the declaration was signed.

European wind turbine manufacturers are not in a great place. Siemens Energy almost went bust earlier this year, and other big players are frequently posting losses. 

Chinese manufacturers, by contrast, are getting stronger every year and look poised to dominate the global market. And even though no Chinese wind turbine has been installed on European soil, fear of this barrier being breached is sparking protectionist instincts among EU member states.

“While the wind power sector is historically an EU success story, it faces a set of challenges,” the charter reads. “The whole European wind ecosystem needs to come together to address these challenges,” it adds.

The two-page document refers to the wind power package put forward in October by the European Commission.

In concrete terms, the 26 signatories commit to “ensure a sufficient, robust and predictable pipeline for the deployment of wind energy … covering at least the period 2024-2026,” the declaration reads.

Beyond that, the objective is to “promote the production of high-quality wind turbines with high environmental, innovation, cybersecurity and labour standards” by making changes to national auction systems for wind power capacity.

Traditionally, wind power developers bid on certain lots of power supply contracts and compete on the price of electricity they can offer, with the cheapest bid usually winning the day.  

Increasingly, these auctions tend to favour developers who acquire cheaper China-made turbines, a move that has prompted insistent lobbying from the wind industry to change the system. 

The EU’s tool of choice are now “well-designed, objective, transparent non-discriminatory nonprice pre-qualification or award criteria,” that favour European bidders, the charter says.

These will target “sustainability and resilience, cybersecurity, business conduct and ability to deliver. Citizen participation could also be taken into account,” the document adds. 

Cybersecurity requirements in particular may hamper Chinese manufacturers from winning EU bids, given that wind turbines are frequently connected to the web whilst being equipped with hundreds of sensors and cameras, often measuring movement in the air around them and wind speeds.

This reflects measures adopted in the telecoms sector where Chinese firm Huawei is currently being locked out from bids to construct European networks. A similar logic could now apply to Chinese manufacturers of energy infrastructure.

Separately, European manufacturers have also barred Chinese competitors from becoming members of their main lobbying body, WindEurope. “Members must have significant wind-related operations based in Europe,” according to the association’s core values, updated in early 2023.

Additional instruments to safeguard the European industry are also included into the charter. 

The countries endorse a commitment to “actively monitoring and, if justified, consider measures to address possible unfair trade practices in the international market for wind-related products.” 

Trade officials in the European Commission are already looking at foreign countries’ subsidy practices with some degree of suspicion. 

Lastly, the signatories say they want to boost domestic manufacturing.

The charter commits signatories to “scale up wind equipment manufacturing capacity in EU to meet the expected increased demand for wind projects, whilst committing to reinforcing existing employment and industrial capabilities, as necessary.”

“The EU energy ministers and the wind industry are sending out a very important signal today: Manufacturing capacities must match our ambitious targets,” said Germany’s Sven Giegold, a high-ranking public official who signed on his country’s behalf.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic and Frédéric Simon]

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