Local Distractions In UK Solar Industry Could Be Costly
Last Thursday, BusinessGreen reported on a letter that had been sent to EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström urging her to abort the Minimum Import Price on Chinese solar panels imported into Europe. Signed by Solarcentury, Solar Clarity, Sungevity International, BNRG Renewables Ltd, Ergo Home Energy Ltd, and Soventix GmbH, the letter stated that, "Figures from SolarPower Europe illustrate that during the first year that the MIP raised prices, total newly-installed solar capacity in the EU shrank from 21 to 7 Gigawatts, with MIP responsible for accelerating this downward growth spiral,"
The following day BusinessGreen then reported that the lobby group EU Prosun had confirmed a group of 30 European solar technology manufacturers is to formally submit a request for the European Commission to review its Minimum Import Pricing (MIP) policy, ahead the September 6th deadline. Without a formal request, the MIP would expire on December 7th 2015. EU Prosun president Milan Nitzschke was quoted as saying, "If you remove the MIP the problem of dumping will still be there". He added that some Chinese solar panels were being sold for as little as €0.50/watt, achievable only with Chinese state-backed banks being ready to bail out loss making manufacturing operations.
Whilst this fiasco rumbles on, the ever so slightly secretive discussions surrounding the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) between the EU and the US gathers pace, of which David Cameron is a major advocate. The TTIP is a proposed free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States. The EU wants to open up the US to EU firms, they say, to help cut the red tape that firms face when exporting, setting new rules to make it easier and fairer to export, import and invest overseas. With the EU seeking to diversify its energy sources and US companies eager to export their "unconventional" oil and gas riches, energy has become a major focus of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, about which the two blocs are negotiating.
The EU is eager for the US to remove any barriers to the export of its natural gas and crude oil. However, this drive for unrestrained fossil fuel trade will be disastrous for the climate, warns Ilana Solomon, Director of the Responsible Trade Program of Sierra Club Foundation. "The EU's proposal reinforces a dangerous model of trade that will limit our ability to combat the climate crisis." There are major concerns regarding the pending TTIP in that it contains language that could allow energy companies to take governments to private arbitrators if they try to regulate or ban fracking. As we know, Amber Rudd is more than a little keen to see fracking in the UK, more than she is large scale solar pv"¦.or even solar pv on Britain's roofs, on any sizeable scale. As reported at the weekend, the government wants to see fracking planning applications fast-tracked, to steer them through without months of waiting.
With the EU and the UK wishing to see the removal of barriers and advocating free trade on one hand, and the EU imposed barriers on the free trade of solar pv modules on the other"¦"¦"¦"¦..what is really motivating the agenda here? We seem to be engulfed by insurmountable hypocrisy and whilst the UK solar PV industry remains firmly fixated on the local issue of subsidies, are we missing the global agenda that will potentially impact renewables even greater still, in the UK and Europe as a whole? In relation to TTIP, Molly Scott Cato, the Green MEP, warns: "The import of cheap US gas from fracking could undermine renewable generation in the UK and across Europe." We have been warned.
