SolarWorld garnered the support of 25 European entities, including the insolvent Sovello, to deliver an anti-dumping petition against the Chinese, which was filed in Brussels yesterday. This time around, the situation is dramatically different. While the US has been a market in a beginner`s stage, Europe has matured and become sophisticated with solar energy. Chinese companies grew in strength there and despite the current cooling-off effect they continue to have a significant presence. There is a sense of serious concern for the Chinese, confirmed with the words of Wang Yiyu, Yingli Green Energy Hold. Co. Ltd (NYSE: YGE) chief strategy officer, who called the situation a “fatal blow” if duties were to take place. Zhang Qian, head of the Beijing office for Canadian Solar (NASDAQ: CSIQ), called the petition “an extremely serious problem,” stating, "If the anti-dumping complaint goes through it will be impossible for Chinese companies to export to Europe anymore. That would be a disaster for the Chinese solar industry."
Yet the petition has been foreshadowed for quite some time and Chinese companies have been making headlines in recent weeks exploring alternative markets. The search will only intensify, in light of this development.
In the case of Australia, China Sunergy Co Ltd (NASDAQ: CSUN) and ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) both announced sales to the country. Yingli had opened local headquarters there lately. The Norwegian renewables magazine Recharge reported that based on conversations with Alan Ropers, regional sales manager for Trina Solar (NYSE: TSL), the company has been negotiating with Pacific Hydro-Fotowatio Renewables Ventures, to potentially take the place recently vacated by BP Solar. Recharge further reports that Trina also has potential deals with developers who are bidding at Australian Capital Territory’s Auction. Trina has strong ties with the scientific community in Australia, including a number of the R&D projects as we have discussed in our recent interview.
Interestingly, Trina has been looking to partner in India to develop projects there as well. The company is seeking other companies that have pipeline of projects. The industry chatter suggests Trina has been named to replace BP Solar or work closely with Tata Solar, something which sounds similar to activities taking place in Australia with FRV. So far Trina has shipped around 100MW of modules to the country, with 70MW going into the projects.
SPVI has teamed up with Green Conferences to support Solar Chile Conference, which will take place in September. Trina and Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) are both sponsors of the conference. Recently, the country had approved 694MW of developments, and an additional 2.4GW are awaiting review, offering potential to module manufacturers.
The press in the Middle East reported that Trina is also looking for a $200M investment in Jordan, to build solar plants. The country recently approved the Renewable Energy Law, which will see Jordan supply 10% of needs from a mix of renewables by 2020.
Lastly, China Sunergy made headlines in regards to possible investment in Turkey, which would involve construction of a 50MW module-assembly factory. While the company had denied the $600M investment, simply not having the resources, it had confirmed serious intent to evaluate investment options in the country. In recent history, China Sunergy had also eyed Thailand for viability of its renewable programs, offering investors and developers the capabilities of its QSAR and PSAR modules.
Perhaps in retrospect the companies hoping to be a global force should have considered a greater investment in the market, by creating their own or acquiring existing infrastructure in Europe. Creating ties and cooperation was clearly not enough, including buying billions of dollars in equipment and materials purchased every year from European and American manufacturers. While having home support for growth had been extremely generous in China, Europe and the US had their support systems as well. The fact that the Chinese outpaced everyone simply because the US or Germany, may not have done enough for the industry, should not receive penalties and criticism, but should be re-evaluated and supported with new investments in technology and further development. While solar energy continues to win greater share globally, it is hard to imagine that even darker clouds are gathering over the industry. With each exchange of threats, the reality of the trade war materializes further and since logic had not played for a while, the ending will be certain disaster.
