Solar Power Europe has published a statement opposing trade defence measures on the solar sector, suggested by the European Union. We agree with this statement against the imposition of trade defence measures for solar products from outside the EU. At PanelClaw we are in favor of an acceleration of the energy transition in Europe. The proposed trade measures are actually a brake on that transition.
In a nutshell, Solar Power Europe’s statement provides an explanation on the EU target of 42.5% renewable energy by 2030, including a solar target of 600 GW by 2030. This requires a significant acceleration of solar deployment in the European Union (“EU”). Imposing trade defence measures on solar PV products will only delay the rollout. We fully support and are committed to the re-shoring of European solar power generation, including the EU target to re-shore solar power generation capacity to a minimum of 30 GW by 2025 across the solar PV supply chain.
However, we want to stress that it is essential to choose the right tools to achieve this. In the interest of the EU’s economic prosperity and the future growth of the EU solar sector, we call on the European Commission not to initiate a trade defence investigation that could potentially lead to the imposition of tariffs on imported photovoltaic products.