Altmaier welcomes settlement between EU, China in solar conflict

Jul 31, 2013 - Germany's Environment Minister Peter Altmaier has welcomed the agreement reached between the European Union (EU) and China in their solar module dispute, the respective ministry announced on Monday.

Altmaier is confident that the reached agreement will strengthen the solar industry both in China and in Europe, he said.

If the parties had failed to reach an agreement, the European Commission (EC) would have imposed an increase in the punitive tariff for Chinese solar modules of an average of 47%, up from currently almost 12%.

However, the EU and China have now agreed on a minimum price of EUR 0.57 per watt for Chinese solar modules as well as on an upper limit of imports of 7 GW, VDMA noted. If this mark is exceeded, the increase punitive tariff of 47.6% will come into force.

China aims to reach 35 GW of installed solar capacity by 2015.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!