The European Commission has announced an investigation into alleged illegal subsidies to Chinese wind turbine producers, amid fears the domestic industry will be decimated by cheap imports. Some of the wind farms were to be built in Spain.
The Community Executive has launched a research on the construction of wind farms in Europegiven the concern that the subsidies State governments are allowing Chinese producers to undercut domestic turbine manufacturers' prices, at a time when the bloc is trying to accelerate its transition to clean energy.
The measure, announced today, April 9, by the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, during a conference at Princeton University (USA), comes six months after EU trade officials launched a anti-subsidy investigation similar on the import of battery electric vehicles (BEV) from China.
“I can announce today that we are launching a new investigation into Chinese wind turbine suppliers,” Vestager said. “We are investigating the conditions for the development of wind farms in Spainin Greece, in France, in Romania and in Bulgaria”.
The EU claims that less than 3% of solar panels installed in Europe are produced on the continent
The Danish politician, famous for her determination when leading antitrust investigations against American technology giants, said China had already dominated the solar panel sector by attracting foreign investment, acquiring technology and granting “massive subsidies” to domestic suppliers before exporting at a low price.
“The result is that today Less than 3% of solar panels installed in Europe are produced in Europe“said Vestager. “We cannot allow what happened with solar panels to happen again with electric vehicles, wind power or essential chips,” he added.
The Community Executive confirmed in Brussels the start of the investigation: “According to the information available to the Commission, there are indications that some wind energy manufacturers and other companies active in the internal market may benefit from foreign subsidies that give them an unfair advantage over their competitors and that can give rise to distortions of competition“said a spokesperson.
“The requests for information sent today will allow the Commission to further investigate the matter,” the official added. “Under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, the Commission is empowered to investigate the existence and effects of foreign subsidies and impose corrective measures once the existence of a distortion of competition has been established”.
Domestic wind turbine producers have long urged EU leaders to protect them from unfair foreign competition. In an “action plan” on wind energy published in October, the Community Executive warned of possible future research into competencealong with measures to address bottlenecks in permitting, skills shortages and access to key raw materials.
