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China-EU relations
ChinaDiplomacy

European solar panel makers ask EU for ‘emergency’ steps to block China’s ‘significant oversupply’

  • Glut of PV modules from China has triggered ‘drastic reduction in prices’, leaving stocks ‘languishing’, ESMC says in letter to European Commission
  • Group representing around 80 firms calls for three-pronged response within weeks, or import curbs if that is not feasible

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The call from the European industry group comes at a sticky moment as the EU tries to ramp up solar capacity while trying to reduce its reliance on Chinese supplies. Photo: AFP
Finbarr Berminghamin Brussels
European solar panel producers are calling for urgent curbs on Chinese access to the EU photovoltaic (PV) market to save their industry.

In a letter sent to the European Commission, a group representing “nearly the entire European PV manufacturing industry” called for “emergency measures” to safeguard the EU supply chain amid “significant oversupply” from China.

It claimed that oversupply of PV modules from China late in 2022 and through 2023 had “triggered a drastic reduction in prices”, forcing European manufacturers to reduce production and leaving stocks “languishing” in warehouses.

“Unfortunately, these stocks remain unsold due to the prevailing market conditions characterised by ultra-low pricing, a situation expected to persist at least throughout 2024,” read the letter from the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC), which represents around 80 companies.

ESMC has demanded an immediate three-pronged response: an European Union buyout of the continent’s solar PV inventories, Brussels-backed project financing for local producers, and speeding up of future regulations to ban panels made using forced labour and reduce over-dependence on single nations.

The latter points are likely to penalise Chinese supplies, but given that Brussels has yet to finalise its forced labour or net-zero industry regulations, individual tenets of the laws would be difficult to bring forward.

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