EU launches inquiry into Chinese wind turbine suppliers

The European Commission (EC) is launching an inquiry into Chinese suppliers of wind turbines, Margrethe Vestager, the Executive Vice President of the EC for a Europe Fit for the Digital Age, announced today.

The Commission is investigating the conditions for the development of wind parks in Spain, Greece, France, Romania, and Bulgaria, Vestager said in a speech on technology and politics at Princeton in the US.

The news follows the recent opening of investigations under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation into bids by Chinese companies in a solar project tender in Romania.

Industry group WindEurope said the new probe comes as Chinese wind turbine makers are stepping up efforts and winning some orders in Europe.

“Chinese wind turbine manufacturers are offering much lower prices than European manufacturers and incredibly generous financing terms with up to 3 years deferred payment. You can’t do that without unfair public subsidy. What’s more the European manufacturers aren’t allowed to offer deferred payment like that under OECD rules,” commented WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.

Vestager said that Europe is making full use of the tools it has but more is needed than a case-by-case approach.

“We need a systematic approach. And we need it before it is too late. We can't afford to see what happened on solar panels, happening again on electric vehicles, wind or essential chips,” she added.  

Vestager also raised the issue of trustworthiness as clean technologies increasingly become an important part of critical energy and transport infrastructure.

“I believe that like-minded partners, starting with the G7 countries, should develop a list of trustworthiness criteria for critical clean technologies. These can include environmental footprint, labour rights, cybersecurity and data security,” the EC vice president said.

According to her, this is what the Inflation Reduction Act missed. “By tying the criteria to local production, instead of trustworthiness, the US limited the potential scale for western producers. And it forced us to react by enabling matching subsidies. Which means that, essentially, each of us is using taxpayers' money to attract or retain projects from each other. Instead of using it to give our companies an innovative or competitive edge in this global race.”

The speech was livestreamed on the Institute for Advanced Study's website.

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