Wholesalers and project planners are increasingly demanding European modules to avoid paying backdated anti-dumping duties for modules made in China. This development has already started to create a significant rise in demand for European-made modules from German-Scandinavian manufacturer Innotech Solar (ITS). On 6th June, the European Commission will decide whether provisional anti-dumping and countervailing duties should be imposed on solar modules imported from China.
“The market is in a state of deep uncertainty, as it is importers who must pay the duties and only those who purchase European solar modules avoid this risk,” explains Dr Thomas Hillig, Vice President Module Sales & Marketing at Innotech Solar. “Chinese manufacturers have started trying to put the onus on their customers by stipulating that the transfer of ownership takes place in China. Furthermore, the threat of anti-dumping duties means these companies are no longer able to guarantee their prices for several months in advance.” According to Hillig, this has made projects considerably more difficult to plan, and has led some Chinese manufacturers to increase their prices.
Hillig believes that customers of European module manufacturers are also feeling insecure, with “more and more distributors and installers sharing their reservations, fearing that the supply of European modules could become limited or altogether unavailable, or that European manufacturers may push up their prices. The demand for our modules clearly reflects this.”
For quite some time now, many well-known European products have not actually been produced in the European Union, or their manufacturers only perform the final production stages in Europe in order to receive a “Made in Europe” stamp. “Many wholesalers and project planners are now paying closer attention, yet only very few companies provide the same high level of certainty as Innotech Solar, whose modules have been fully manufactured in Europe,” adds Hillig. Innotech Solar uses an innovative cell processing technique to optimise solar cells from different manufacturers in the German city of Halle an der Saale and manufactures all of its modules in Glava, Sweden. Apart from its EVA, which it obtains from the Japanese market leader for this material, the company only uses components from European manufacturers of proprietary products. A multitude of tests by independent experts, such as Photovoltaik-Institut Berlin or PV Lab, demonstrate the high efficiency, longevity and positive environmental impact of Innotech Solar modules.