Solar panel manufacturers have warned that a trade deal to end the dispute over imports by European Union countries could do significant damage to the UK industry.
EU and Chinese officials reached a deal to restrict European imports of solar panels, in exchange for exempting shipments from punitive tariffs, after weeks of dispute.
Exact details of the deal have yet to be announced, but the pledged price will mean Chinese can continue exporting to EU countries, if approved by the full European Commission.
However, reports suggest it to be around EU0.56 per watt, with a cap on the volume of solar of 7GW a year.
“We found an amicable solution in the EU-China solar-panels case that will lead to a new market equilibrium at sustainable prices,” European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Sunday night.
However, the move has failed to find favour from UK manufacturers, who warned that the EU proposals would make competition from UK large-scale solar projects potentially uneconomic, particularly with the Renewables Obligation set for year on year cuts, while leaving little room in the market for imports to grow.
“We’re concerned the deal reached by China and the Commission will ultimately achieve little, as German manufacturers are unlikely to be able to compete long-term with the Asian giants,” said Paul Barwell, chief executive of the Solar Trade Association.
“In the short term, the proposals could do real damage to the UK downstream solar industry and to national deployment levels. They leave the UK non-domestic solar industry in a very difficult position, when in fact the UK is one of the major EU growth markets, and ought to remain so.”
German manufacturers, who brought the original complaint over dumping, were also dissatisfied with the EU deal and have threatened legal action.
EU ProSun, which represents around 40 European solar-panel makers, said the minimum price agreed in the deal matched that China was already selling panels at.
“This is essentially a guarantee of sales at that level and more for China and an authorization to sell at dumped prices,” EU ProSun president Milan Nitzschke said in a statement.
“That is a clear violation of EU trade law.”
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