Storms are gathering, as Turkey announced the initiation of an anti-circumvention investigation into the anti-dumping case against Chinese PV modules. The EU is also gearing up.
On November 29, the European PV Industry Association reported that the EU will hold a meeting soon to discuss measures to rebuild European manufacturing, which may restrict imports of solar products.
In response, more than 400 European solar companies issued an open letter through the industry body SolarPower Europe, opposing the EU’s trade protection measures on the solar industry.
The 429 signatories, including 18 manufacturers from 26 member states, 28 associations and research institutes, said that imposing trade protection measures on solar PV products will slow down solar application.
According to the new Renewable Energy Directive passed by the European Council this year, the target level of renewable energy electricity in the EU’s energy structure will be raised to 42.5% in 2030, higher than the 40% originally proposed in the REPowerEU plan, including the 600GWac solar target. Imposing a new round of trade protection measures will undoubtedly delay the achievement of the target.
In this regard, the signatories cited the example of the removal of anti-dumping and countervailing duties levied five years ago on solar modules imported from China and Malaysia. During the implementation of trade protection measures, solar jobs, project investment and solar development declined sharply, leading to higher costs for customers and consumers.
The signatories also suggested taking three measures to provide long-term and sustainable support for the European solar industry. The first measure is to adjust the EU state aid framework to allow member states to provide support for factory operating costs such as operating expenses.
Secondly, the European Commission should authorize specific flexible tenders to be held within member states in accordance with the rapidly approved EU Net Zero Industry Act. It is suggested that the European Commission set up an EU-level financing instrument dedicated to supporting EU solar PV manufacturing projects.
The signatories also said that the implementation of trade protection measures “will certainly have a negative impact on jobs in Europe and jeopardize many local jobs.”
According to the 2023 EU Solar Jobs Report, in 2022, the solar industry created 648,000 full-time jobs in the EU. Most of the jobs (84%) are related to the deployment of solar PV systems.
Without major development obstacles, including trade restrictions, the solar industry will employ approximately 1 million people in 2025 and 1.2 million people in 2027.
The statement said: “We fully support and are committed to the reshoring of European solar manufacturing, including the EU’s goal of adjusting the entire solar PV supply chain capacity to at least 30GW by 2025. However, we want to remind that choosing the right tools to achieve this goal is crucial.“
This is not the first time that the European PV industry has voiced opposition. In October this year, multiple European solar associations, including SolarPower Europe, issued an open letter calling on the EU to formulate an industrial strategy for the European solar PV industry and opposing the introduction of tariffs and trade barriers.
In order to solve the problem of sharp decline in the price of European solar PV modules, they also proposed four methods that can be implemented in the short term.
Turkey initiates anti-circumvention investigation of anti-dumping case against Chinese PV modules
It is worth noting that a European country, Turkey, has initiated an anti-circumvention investigation on its own.
On November 25, the Turkish Ministry of Trade published Announcement No. 2023/32 stating that upon the application of Turkish companies, an anti-circumvention investigation was initiated against the anti-dumping case against PV modules originating in China to review whether the products involved in China are exported to Turkey through Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Croatia and Jordan to circumvent anti-dumping duties.
The investigation period of this case is the whole year of 2020, the whole year of 2021, the whole year of 2022, and January to September 2023. The products involved include photovoltaic cell modules and solar cell plates, involving products under tariff number 8541.43.00.00.00 of Turkey. The announcement takes effect from the date of publication. According to relevant Turkish laws, Turkey can retrospectively levy anti-dumping duties 90 days before the final ruling.
According to data from SolarPower Europe, a European solar trade body, Turkey is the world’s fourth largest solar manufacturer with about 8GW of production capacity in 2022.
Tracking historical cases, on July 1, 2016, Turkey initiated an anti-dumping investigation against PV modules originating in China. On April 1, 2017, the former Turkish Ministry of Economy issued Announcement No. 2017/6 and made an affirmative final ruling on the case, imposing anti-dumping duties of US$20/square meter and US$25/square meter on the products involved for a period of five years. On March 26, 2022, the Turkish Ministry of Trade issued Announcement No. 2022/10 to initiate the first sunset review investigation into the case. On September 15, 2023, the Turkish Ministry of Trade issued Announcement No. 2023/26 and made the first sunset review affirmative final ruling to continue levying anti-dumping duties of US$20/square meter and US$25/square meter on the products involved.
