European #solar installers in favour of fair competition

A survey of more than 500 companies from all 28 EU member states, reveals that the majority of European solar installers are in favor of an extension of anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties that were introduced two years ago, if the EU Commission's investigations establish that Chinese producers are still violating international trade law. Not the duties, but the feed-in-tariff cuts are seen as responsible for the EU market's decline in recent years.

Almost 90% emphasize the importance of European products in competition. The survey was conducted by Europressedienst on behalf of the European solar producer initiative, EU ProSun.

Milan Nitzschke, president of EU ProSun explained: "We wanted to clarify whether the assertion made by the lobby organisation of big Chinese producers and their importers is valid, that the European solar installers prefer a termination of the measures against Chinese solar dumping. The opposite is the case. The clear majority supports an extension of the duties and minimum import prices (MIP's), which makes sense because they do not feel the measures have negatively affected their business. The enterprises apparently recognize the need for fair competition based on their own experiences. No one wants to get pushed out of the market by unfair means. This same principle also has to apply for the benefit of the producing solar industry, in the interest of product variety, quality and research and development.”

European PV solar installers were not negatively affected by trade law developments, but rather by unstable political framework conditions. According to installers surveyed, the cause of the slowdown in the EU solar market is the reduction of solar feed-in-tariffs.  88.8 percent of respondents agreed with that assessment. Two-thirds of respondents also said the taxation of self-consumed solar power as a cause of market decline. In case of an extension of the duties and the MIP on Chinese solar imports, which were implemented two years ago, less than 4% of the installers expect cuts for their own company.  Fewer than a quarter of those surveyed consider adjustments necessary, while almost two-thirds of the installers have adapted to the market conditions and envisage no interferences in their business.

“The solar craft installers in Europe consider the availability of European products in the market to be of great value”, emphasises Nitzschke. 88 percent of the respondents underline the importance of the European solar industry. The installers consider it important or very important that products from Europe and countries of origin other than China are available in the EU market. In Germany this aspect was underlined by 94.9% of the interviewees.

The Chinese producers’ low-cost offers result from lower regulatory requirements and government subsidies, as installers see it. On the other hand, production equipment and spending on research and development in China is seen as secondary by the respondents. Despite the introduction of the MIP's and duties on Chinese modules and components in 2013, 60.7 percent of the solar installers have observed a solar module price reduction in the EU market.

524 installation enterprises from all 28 EU member states participated in the telephone-based survey, which was conducted between May and June 2016. Survey participants serve market segments ranging from under 10 kWp up to over 1 MWp. Their installed power output adds up to 8% of the European solar market in 2015.

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