SolarPower Europe is concerned about reports that European governments are considering applying trade barriers to solar PV products entering the single market. 3r6w1y

In a t statement, the Board of Directors of SolarPower Europe, has stated that "right now, a perfect storm is hitting the solar PV market. A combination of market dynamics leading to overcapacity on the supply side, and overordering on the demand side during the last years, has, in turn, resulted in sharp drops in price of solar modules and other system components". 

According to SolarPower Europe, the situation only adds to the critical urgency for the EU to develop and implement a strong and credible industrial strategy for solar PV. 

For this reason, the Board of Directors has indicated has indicated that the most appropriate solutions are as follows:

• Adjust the EU State Aid framework (the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework) to allow Member States to running costs of factories – i.e. opex
• Allow for specific resilience auctions within Member States under a swiftly-adopted EU Net-Zero Industry Act 
• Set up an EU-level financing instrument dedicated to European produced solar PV, like a Solar Manufacturing Bank

And it points out that with the right political will, all these points can be implemented in a matter of weeks. "In the emergency we find ourselves in, we have limited time to act. We urge EU leaders to spend this time focusing on these constructive solutions. We cannot risk slowing down the solar-led energy transition at this critical moment in time.Trade barriers are not the solution. As history has shown, investigating and implementing trade barriers on solar is the ultimate lose-lose strategy for Europe,"  the t statement said.

Aristotelis Chantavas, President of SolarPower Europe, said that "we need diverse, sustainable and resilient solar supply chains. Trade barriers are not the way to do that. We urge EU leaders to deliver and implement an industrial strategy for solar, as clear, and ambitious as the US IRA. There are balanced, effective measures ready to go."

For his part, Gunter Erfurt, Board Director at SolarPower Europe, explained that "tariffs are not a good answer to the current challenges in the European solar industry, there are better and especially faster instruments for the development of European solar production: Instead of sanctioning the entire industry through tariffs, we must incentivize solar installations that originate from resilient European solar production. This way, the deployment of solar energy can continue undisturbed while the European solar manufacturing can grow steadily. In the coming weeks, the EU has the chance to implement the basic principles of this resilience system in its planned Net Zero Industry Act."

Finally, SolarPower Europe stated that the better strategy is to reward the European solar industry for the swift feat of strength they are prepared to deliver for Europe: A more resilient and less geopolitically dependent energy system, in line with the European Commission's stated goals.