EU ProSun the sustainable solar energy initiative for Europe comprised of EU solar businesses has backed a recent proposal for a French-German PV alliance, mooted in the wake of continued competition from China.
Remarking on last week's announcement that France and Germany have been discussing plans to build a joint, large-scale PV modules plant (known as X-GW), EU ProSun have released a press statement lending their backing to the proposals.
"EU ProSun would like to point out that today Europe already possesses sufficient module and cell production capacity," read the statement. "However, in the last few years unfair trade practices and dumping prices have greatly affected the market and weakened the competitive position of the domestic industry, despite its technological advantage."
According to early reports, the X-GW project will be created via a consortium with The French National Institute of Solar Energy (INES), the Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and Germanys Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE). French President Francois Hollande has pledged his support for the projects, as has German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy spokesman, Tobias Dünow, who revealed that more details of the project will be released in the coming weeks.
Until that date, EU ProSun president Milan Nitzschke has urged Europe to back its solar industry, saying: "The signal from Germany and France is clear: Europe has to bet on a strong solar industry. But more important new production capacity is planning security for the solar companies that still exist in Europe.
"Solar markets like Germany were already greatly affected in 2013. If governments cannot guarantee planning security now, the best factory buildings in the world will not help."
Nitzschke also outlined EU ProSun's fears that a new proposal from the German Federal Cabinet approving the final EEG (German Renewable Energy act) could hinder the future of a sustainable, decentralized and secure energy supply. "The policy goal should be the support of industry standards and the promotion of innovation," Nitzschke said. "The last thing that Europe needs now is technology hurdles like an EEG apportionment for the self-consumption of clean solar energy."
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.