Austria follows German lead on solar self-consumption fee

PV Magazine
The Ministry of Finance in Austria has voted to introduce a grid fee for mid-size PV systems installed for self-consumption, similar to the proposed changes outlined in Germany's Renewable Energy Act (EEG).
A levy of €1.5 per kWh will be charged to any PV system installed from March 1, 2014 that generates more than 5,000 kWh of solar power per year.
The move has been met with strong criticism from the Photovoltaic Austria Federal Association, which claims that a grid free will hit the country's commercial PV sector, particularly the nation's SME businesses.

Solaire: Paris et Berlin étudient un projet d’usine géante

Les Echos
La France et l’Allemagne planchent sur la création d’une usine de panneaux solaires pour concurrencer les Chinois. Un projet susceptible de répondre aux vœux de François Hollande de créer un « Airbus » de l’énergie.

EU-China solar trade wars

EU, China Agree to End Solar Panel Trade Dispute
European Union countries approved an agreement with China to curb imports of Chinese solar panels, ending the EU’s biggest commercial dispute of its kind. EU governments endorsed an accord struck by their trade chief and China in July that sets a minimum price and a volume limit on European imports of Chinese solar panels until the end of 2015. Chinese manufacturers that take part will be spared EU tariffs meant to counter alleged below-cost sales, a practice known as dumping, and subsidies.

EU Hits Chinese Solar-Glass Exporters With Tariffs Up to 42.1%
The European Union imposed tariffs as high as 42.1 percent on solar glass from China to curb import competition for EU producers, heightening trade tensions over renewable energy. The duties punish Chinese exporters such as Zhejiang Jiafu Glass Co. and Xinyi PV Products (Anhui) Holdings Ltd. for allegedly selling solar glass in the EU below cost, a practice known as dumping. The glass is used for the production of solar panels, which are themselves the focus of two European trade probes affecting China.

Europe and China Agree to Settle Solar Panel Fight

NYTimes.com
The European Union’s trade chief said on Saturday that a deal had been reached with China to settle a dispute over exports of low-cost solar panels that had threatened to set off a wider trade war between two of the world’s largest economies.
The settlement essentially involves setting a fairly high minimum price [0.56€/W] for sales of Chinese-made solar panels in the European Union to try to prevent them from undercutting European producers. (...) The deal immediately met with ferocious criticism from the European manufacturers that had filed the complaint. (...) The agreement “is contrary in every respect to European law,” said Milan Nitzschke, the president of EU ProSun, an industry group. A minimum price of 0.55 to 0.57 euros was at the level of “the current dumping price for Chinese modules,” the group said in a statement.
The arrangement would cover exports from 90 of about 140 Chinese exporters that were examined during the investigation, and that represent 60 percent of the panels sold in Europe, the government official said. Those 90 companies would no longer face tariffs that were put in place in June. Chinese exporters that did not agree to the terms will still face tariffs that are set to rise to 47.6 percent on Aug. 6 from the current level of 11.8 percent, the official said.

China expects to end solar trade spat with EU next month: official

South China Morning Post
China expects to resolve a multibillion-US-dollar solar trade spat with the European Union by next month, a senior mainland industry official said yesterday, after a newspaper reported that Beijing had made a new offer to the EU to settle the dispute. The solar dispute has the potential to affect €21 billion (HK$210 billion) worth of imported Chinese solar panels, cells and wafers from manufacturers such as Trina Solar, Yingli Green Energy and Suntech Power Holdings. (...) [Sun Guangbin, secretary general of the solar department of China's Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products] declined to comment on a report in the Shanghai Securities News yesterday that China had proposed capping the annual volume of its solar panel exports to the EU and setting a minimum price for its products sold there. Under the proposal, China would export no more than 10 gigawatts of photovoltaic modules to the EU a year at a minimum price of 50 euro cents per watt, the paper quoted National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) researcher Wang Sicheng as saying. Any exports exceeding the limit would be subjected to punitive tariffs, Wang was quoted as saying at a solar industry conference on Thursday. In return, he said, the EU should levy no or low taxes on Chinese solar panels.

EU announces provisional duties on Chinese solar products

EC press release
The European Commission announced yesterday that it will impose provisional antidumping duties on wafers, solar cells and modules imported from China. The duties will be valid for a period of six months and will come into force starting on June 6 with no retroactive effect. The Commission decided to introduce the duties according to a »phased approach« starting with an 11.8% tariff for the first 2 months. Following that, the tariff will be raised to 47.6% for the remaining 4 months. The Commission stated that the provisional antidumping duties will counteract unfair trade practices that have harmed the European solar industry. The Commission stressed that the level of the tariffs is significantly lower than the 88% rate at which Chinese manufacturers have been dumping their products on the EU market. Despite the fact that the Commission found that Chinese manufacturers have dumped their products on the market, it also reiterated its commitment to finding an amicable solution to the solar trade dispute through continued negotiations with Chinese companies and the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. To this effect, the Commission said that »provisional duties can be suspended if a negotiated solution is achieved.« The EU will issue a final decision on the antidumping duties on Dec. 5, 2013.

Further news on the subject:

• EU Imposes Duties on Chinese Solar Panels, But Keeps Door Ajar for Talks at Renewable Energy World.
• Shares of solar power companies fell Wednesday after the European Union said it plans to slap tariffs on solar products made in China, says BusinessWeek.
• Tit-for-tat tariff war: European wines, Chinese solar panels, on CNN.

As Europe's Dominance Wanes, Others Pick Up Solar PV

Renewable Energy World
Europe's role as the main driver for the global solar photovoltaics (PV) market is coming to an end, concludes the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) in its latest report.
"The results show clearly" that Europe's dominance is declining, said the trade body in its Global Market Outlook for Photovoltaics 2013-2017. Europe accounted for more than 70 percent of the world's new PV installations in 2011, while in 2012 this number was around 55 percent, the report found. In 2013, said EPIA, it "is almost certain" that the majority of new global PV capacity will be installed outside Europe, and that this trend will continue.

China Divides European Union in Fight Over Tariffs

NYTimes.com
Adroitly alternating the threat of a trade war with the lure of its huge import market, China appears to have driven a deep wedge between Germany and the rest of the European Union. (...) Ms. Merkel said Germany would lobby against duties on Chinese panels. As Chinese and European trade officials stare each other down over next week’s scheduled imposition of big tariffs on the $27 billion worth of solar panels China sells to Europe each year, Germany has come down on China’s side. Notably, Berlin is backing Beijing, even though Europe’s biggest producer of solar equipment, SolarWorld, is a German company that desperately wants the European Union to impose tariffs on the Chinese equipment. Unless the bloc backs off under German pressure, tariffs averaging nearly 50 percent would go into effect June 6, to punish China for the ostensible “dumping” of solar panels at below cost in Europe.
“Europe cannot succumb to blackmail — dumping is illegal, and the E.U. is obliged to defend itself by applying the international trade law,” said Milan Nitzschke, a spokesman for SolarWorld and the president of ProSun, a lobbying group for the European solar energy industry. But many other German companies, which rely more heavily than other European manufacturers on China as a significant market for their exports — whether Volkswagen cars or Siemens factory equipment or various other goods — fear that the dispute over solar panels could lead to an all-out trade war with China, which would be disastrous for their businesses. So far, the German government appears to agree.

U.S., EU Said to Be in Talks With China to End Solar Spat

Bloomberg
The Obama administration is engaged in preliminary talks with the European Union and China to settle a dispute over trade in solar-energy equipment and avoid a conflict among the world’s largest economies, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The effort is focused on setting a quota on Chinese exports and a minimum price for solar-energy equipment, in exchange for suspending U.S. duties on the goods, according to two people familiar with the U.S. position who asked not to be identified to discuss private deliberations.

China to delay preliminary decision on polysilicon import duties until after June 5

People's Daily Online
The Chinese government is expected to soon complete its antidumping and antisubsidy investigation into polysilicon imports from the US, the EU and South Korea, according to Chinese news portal People Daily, which cites an internal source from China’s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom). According to the article, the investigation is almost complete; however, China will delay the announcement of its preliminary decision until after June 5, which is when the EU is due to announce whether it will apply provisional duties to Chinese silicon wafer, cell and module imports.
Mofcom opened the antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into US and South Korean polysilicon imports in mid-July 2012. In early November of the same year, Mofcom launched similar investigations into EU polysilicon imports.

Germany urges diplomatic resolution to EU trade case against China

PV-Tech
Germany is continuing to strive for a diplomatic resolution to the European Union's ongoing investigation into the alleged dumping of Chinese solar modules in Europe. Last week, it emerged that the European Commission’s is planning an average of 47% tariffs on Chinese solar module manufacturers, but at a press conference yesterday government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Germany was still working with China to reach a mutually beneficial solution. Seibert said the German chancellor Angela Merkel has always believed the best course of action was an “amicable solution" with China. (...) A spokesman for Germany's economy ministry named the European Commission's position "hard" and said his ministry was urging the commission and China to continue the political dialogue to try and still ultimately reach an amicable solution.

EU to Slap Tariffs on Chinese Solar Panels

Wall Street Journal
The European Union is poised to slap import duties on solar-panel equipment made in China, likely sparking one of the largest trade battles of recent decades. The duties are intended to protect European solar companies reeling from a flood of imported Chinese solar panels. Dozens of European manufacturers have shut production or gone out of business as solar-panel prices have plummeted; the industry says unfairly priced imports from China are the cause.
The import duties will average about 46%, according to people familiar with the matter, though different Chinese manufacturers will face different individual tariffs. The tariffs will cover panels and their main components, solar cells and silicon wafers.
(...) Solar-panel importers claim that duties of just 15% would cut European demand for solar panels by 85%. "If prices are artificially increased by punitive tariffs, the European solar market would simply come to a standstill with disastrous effects on green jobs," said Wouter Vermeersch, chief executive of Cleantec Trade, a Belgian importer of renewable-energy products.

PV installation pace to slow in the EU as support wanes

www.observ-er.org
The EU connected over 16.5 GW of new PV capacity in 2012 – down sharply from 22 GW in 2011 – bringing the region’s total installed PV capacity to 68.6 GW as of the end of last year. Global installed PV capacity, meanwhile, topped 101 GW.

According to the EurObserv’ER Baromoter, which is supported by the European Commission, Germany (7,604 MW) and Italy (3,577 MW) accounted for more than two thirds of all PV capacity installed in the EU last year. Last year’s other strong markets include France (1,079 MW), Greece (912 MW), Bulgaria (721 MW), the UK (679 MW) and Belgium (599 MW).

In terms of cumulative installed grid-connected PV capacity, Germany and Italy, of course, lead Europe with 32.6 and 16.3 GW, respectively, as of the end of last year. Spain (4,492 MW), France (4,003 MW), Belgium (2,650 MW), the Czech Republic (2,022 MW), the UK (1,655 MW) and Greece (1,536 MW) also had more than 1 GW of installed PV capacity as of Dec. 31, 2013.

Solar now covers more than 2% of EU electricity consumption. (...) [However,] public opinion and European governments are becoming increasingly reluctant to make further investments in PV as the payoffs, economic growth and employment, have not materialized as expected. In the short term, this will inevitably lead to a slower installation pace in many European markets. While PV development in the EU will slacken this year, development in China, the US and Japan is expected to take off. China will replace Germany as the world’s top solar market this year. In the coming years, EurObserv’ER predicts, India, South America and Africa will power future growth.

EU initiates anti-dumping investigation on solar glass from China

Press Release 
The European Commission today launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of solar glass from China. The initiation is based on a complaint lodged by the association EU ProSun Glass, which claims solar glass from China is being dumped in the EU at prices below market value and causing material injury to the EU solar glass industry.
The investigation could take up to 15 months, although under trade defence rules the EU could impose provisional anti-dumping duties within nine months if it considers these necessary.
Solar glass is a special glass used mainly, but not exclusively, for the production of solar panels. It is an essential component not just of solar panels, but of many solar energy products. This investigation has, however, no direct link with the probe related to the imports of solar panels launched by the European Commission last September (MEMO/12/647): it is a stand-alone investigation concerning a clearly distinct product. The EU solar glass market is valued at less than €200m.

Update on EU-China solar trade war

EU orders registration of solar PV imports from China
On March 5th, 2013 the European Commission ordered registration of imported Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) products, in anticipation of potential anti-dumping and countervailing duties.
This order applies to silicon wafers and PV cells and modules, which must be registered at customs. A preliminary decision on the anti-dumping case will be made in June 2013, and may be retroactive to March 2013.

EC opens anti-dumping investigation of solar glass imports from ChinaOn February 28th, 2013 the European Commission launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of solar glass from China, prompted by a complaint from trade group EU ProSun Glass.
The investigation could take up to 15 months, however the EC could impose provisional anti-dumping duties as soon as December 2013 if it finds them necessary. The EC notes that this is a separate investigation from its anti-dumping and CVD investigations of Chinese PV exports.

China urges EU to properly handle solar panel friction

Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming Friday urged politicians and entrepreneurs of the European Union to properly handle the solar panel friction with China to avoid greater losses for both sides.
"We hope to address the dispute through negotiations between Chinese and European companies and boost our industrial cooperation and seek third-party markets," Chen told a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress.
"We are still negotiating a solution and should join our hands to tide through the difficult times for exploring greater market shares," Chen said.

Punitive tariffs on Chinese PV imports will lead to significant job losses in Europe, according to a new study

Alliance for Affordable Solar Energy
Antidumping and/or countervailing duties at any level on Chinese solar products imported into the EU would lead to an overall decrease in demand for solar products [and] to significant job losses in Europe and less value added along the whole European PV value chain, reports Prognos. (...) A punitive tariff of 20% would cost 115,600 jobs in the EU during the first year after implementation. This would rise to a total of 175,500 job losses within the first three years after implementation. The value added lost in Europe could reach €4.74 billion in the first year and up to €18.4 billion during three years with a tariff of 20%.

100 GW of Solar PV Now Installed in the World Today

Renewable Energy News Article
Cumulative global installed [grid connected] solar PV capacity has topped the 100-gigawatt (GW) milestone, according to preliminary numbers from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA). (...) Europe's 69 GW of total installed capacity is enough to produce roughly 2.6% of the region's electricity demand this year, and about 5.2% of peak electricity demand, according to the EPIA.
There's another important milestone in the EPIA's tally of solar PV. Countries outside of Europe connected 13 GW, up from 8 GW in 2011 and just 3 GW in 2010; at the same time Europe's PV installations fell from 23 GW in 2011 to 17 GW in 2012, its first decline since 2006. (...) Eight nations added at least a gigawatt of grid-connected capacity in 2012: Germany, China, Italy, the U.S., Japan, France, the U.K., and India. Thirteen nations (up from 8 in 2011) are in the gigawatt-club of cumulative solar installations: Germany, Italy, the U.S., China, Japan, Spain, France, Belgium, Australia, the Czech Republic, the U.K., Greece, and India.

 

European markets begin to achieve PV grid parity

PV Parity: New Press Release
The PV Parity Project – a consortium made up of various European energy authorities, companies and institutions – reports that PV has begun to achieve grid parity with residential electricity tariffs in Germany, Southern Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. Northern Italy, Portugal and Austria will follow within the next two years, according to the consortium. The PV Parity Project concludes that by the end of the decade, grid parity could be achieved in all 11 countries targeted by the consortium: this includes Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Greece and the UK. Last week, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) reported that PV would soon reach grid parity with residential electricity tariffs in many markets around the world due to rapidly declining PV costs.

Antidumping dispute: INTA urges EC to proceed faster with the investigation

Lemoci
The Committee on International Trade (INTA) of the European Parliament has asked the European Commission (EC) to proceed faster with its anti-dumping investigation on Chinese solar imports, because of the alarming situation of the European PV industry. The French news-portal lemoci has revealed that the European deputies of INTA claim that European solar companies cannot wait until July and that the solar sector urgently needs measures to support its further development. The EC has started its anti-dumping investigation on Chinese solar imports in early September. The anti-dumping investigation, launched in response to a complaint filed by EU ProSun in July, will investigate Chinese imports of crystalline silicon PV modules, cells and wafers. The EC expects it will take 15 months to complete the investigation. The EC has also launched an anti-subsidy investigation on Chinese PV imports on Nov. 8

China files WTO complaint over EU solar subsidies

chinadaily.com.cn
China on Monday filed a complaint to the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO) accusing some European Union (EU) member states of violating solar subsidies rules.
Subsidies issued by some EU member states have violated WTO rules and seriously damaged China's photovoltaic exports, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement, requesting for a consultation. According to laws of Italy and Greece, electricity generated by photovoltaic solar installations is eligible for a specified amount or proportion of feed-in tariffs, if main components of the facilities are produced in the EU or the European Economic Area.

Also on the New York Times and the WTO website.