EU's solar industry in crisis despite new 2040 climate goals

DW (English)

In a new bid to achieve net-zero emissions, the European Union plans to rely heavily on renewable energy — but the bloc's solar industry is struggling to compete with heavily subsidized rivals from China and the US.

Transcript

00:00 Tony Niekesch used to work as a baker.

00:04 After intensive training, he switched and now installs solar panels.

00:08 The money is good and there are always orders.

00:15 People want renewable energy because electricity prices are skyrocketing.

00:19 They want renewable energies and solar.

00:22 That's a booming business.

00:26 Never before have so many solar panels been installed in Germany as last year.

00:31 Around 12 percent of the country's electricity needs are met by the sun.

00:36 And yet Europe's solar industry is struggling.

00:40 China's state-subsidized companies supply more than 80 percent of the world's solar

00:44 panels.

00:45 And at low prices.

00:47 European firms are having a hard time competing.

00:53 The subsidies artificially distort the market.

00:56 This means that the investments cannot be implemented as economically by us.

01:02 Swiss solar firm Meier-Burge is considering closing its production site in Germany.

01:07 A new solar cell production plant is under construction in the United States, with government

01:12 subsidies of 30 percent.

01:15 It's a blow for Europe.

01:17 Energy prices have been high after the war in Ukraine forced a move away from cheap Russian

01:21 oil.

01:22 But Europe's leaders are calling for more energy independence.

01:26 Experts worry that without a robust domestic solar industry, Europe could rely too heavily

01:31 on solar panels from China to help meet its carbon reduction targets.

01:37 We need to have the technological sovereignty.

01:41 So we need to know how to build PV modules.

01:46 And it seems easy for some people not involved in that technology, but to build up such an

01:53 environment takes three, four, five, six years maybe.

01:58 And if you start from the scratch, nothing is available.

02:02 Without tax money from the EU or Berlin, the solar industry in Europe faces an uncertain

02:07 future.

02:08 As do plans to reduce the bloc's reliance on fossil fuels.

02:11 (eerie music)

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