Italy’s levee to China’s photovoltaic panels is about to be overwhelmed. This is what seems to emerge from the report by ENEA, the national agency for new technologies, energy, and sustainable economic development.
- In the report, under the heading “Enea Registry of Photovoltaic Technologies,” the agency will create a registry containing all products that meet specific territorial and qualitative requirements.
- This section would implicitly include photovoltaic modules containing cells from outside the EU. This implies that, for example, a Romanian product with Chinese cell technology could be admitted to the Italian market, despite the fact that such systems made in China have been subject to various measures (from anti-dumping duties to the import registration system) by the EU for reasons of unfair competition.
The lack of European players. The Italian rule would thus risk incentivizing cell technology from outside the EU, especially as China is the world’s leading producer of photovoltaic panels.
- Moreover, European assemblers, of which only three are Italian, would shift to other suppliers, as there are no European cell producers outside of Catania’s 3Sun and Meyerburger.
- The effect would be a reduction in competitiveness, for example, for 3Sun, as well as a possible drop in the offer price of modules with Italian cells.
- As stated by Mr. Davide Tabarelli, president and founder of Nomisma Energia, to our sister company Formiche.net, Europe has 200 GW of power, 30 of which are in Italy; today the bulk of the panels for this power is already in the hands of China.
- “Incentives for renewables should not only serve to increase clean energy production but also to create national supply chains, R&D, and industries. All this has not been done, and industries are losing ground in favor of China,” he concluded.
The Chinese strategy. It is certainly no coincidence that China is committed to implementing the so-called 14+1 system, which connects Central and Eastern Europe to Beijing, a regional bloc that, with the New Silk Road Initiative, the People’s Republic aspires to influence to meet the infrastructure investment and energy transition needs of those countries (e.g., the Kaposvár mega-plant in Hungary built by China’s CMC or CATL’s batteries in Debrecen).
- With this commitment, which is also supported by the objective of gaining influence in the region with a view to disarticulating the Union, the green energy sphere is seen as one of the vectors of penetration, not least because it is one of the weakest and most complicated links due to the Green Deal.
- It is likewise no coincidence that the United States has created the investment system revolving around the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund, linked to the Trimarium initiative.
The first move. As a testament to ongoing developments, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed today in the presence of Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso. The agreement, between Italian company Bee Solar and Chinese company Huasun, aims to launch strategic cooperation in the photovoltaic industry.
- This MoU falls within the framework of the cooperation agreement between Mimit and China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), established during Minister Urso’s mission to Beijing and subsequently signed during Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s recent visit.
- Specifically, Bee Solar, an Italian company specializing in developing industrial facilities, particularly photovoltaic component production plants, plans to set up a production center in Italy, leveraging Huasun’s technology and expertise. The construction of the plant is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2025, aiming to establish an advanced and competitive production facility in Europe.
- Huasun, a Chinese technology innovation company focused on research, development, and large-scale production of photovoltaic equipment, seeks to strengthen its position in the European market. To support Bee Solar’s demand, Huasun will utilize its production capacity in China.
