Moving From ‘One Authoritarian Government’ to Another as Europe Shifts Energy Dependency Toward China

Large solar panels are seen in a solar power plant in Hami, northwest China's Xinjiang region, on May 8, 2013. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Europe’s push to transition toward absolute renewable energy while weaning away from depending on Russian energy supplies could make the bloc end up being too dependent on China instead, warns the Institute for Energy Research (IER).

The European Union (EU) already relies on China for much of its solar panels. Between January and August 2022, solar panel sales from China to the EU rose to $16 billion, which is more than double the $7.2 billion during the year-ago period. In 2021, China accounted for 75 percent of worldwide solar panel production, while Europe stood at a measly 2.8 percent.

China’s silicon production capacity is calculated to double, from 1.2 million tons in 2022 to 2.4 million tons, this year. “Now that Europe has moved away from buying energy from one authoritarian government, Russia, it is turning to another, China, who dominates the solar market and its components,” said the article.

“Europe should be worried more about energy security than it has shown in the last decade when it turned away from its own production of oil, natural gas, and coal, shuttering fossil fuel generators, cutting lease sales, and banning hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.”

European Manufacturing, China Manipulation

Europe was not always lagging behind in the manufacture of solar panels. At one time, Germany was a leading player in the sector. But China overtook the European economic powerhouse in panel production in 2015 with its “cheap energy and ‘slave’ labor network,” the article states.

China’s silicon products are mostly made in Xinjiang, where the minority Uyghur community is forced into labor. Between 2011 and 2018, the number of renewable energy jobs in Germany plummeted, from 300,000 to 150,000.

“The overall drop in employment has been mostly due to the collapse of Germany’s solar power industry over the past decade, as many companies were forced out of business thanks to cheaper competitors from China scooping up most of the market,” according to a February 2021 article by Clean Energy Wire.

Being dependent on China means that Beijing can use that dependence to manipulate the EU and pressure it to potentially accept some of its interests. Back in 2010, for example, when China faced a territorial dispute with Japan, it cut off all rare earth mineral exports to Tokyo.

Later, when Lithuania showed support for Taiwan, Beijing blocked the import of Lithuanian goods and pressured multinationals that had ties with the European nation.

Boosting European Solar Panel Production

A recent report published by researchers with the European Parliamentary Research Service points out that solar installation companies in Europe have come to rely on cheap equipment imported from China and other Asian nations such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and South Korea.

Without such cheap equipment, Europe’s energy transition plans will not come to fruition. This puts Europe in a “solar conundrum.”

“With Europe importing 80 percent of its solar panels from China, dependencies would merely shift from imported oil or gas to imported solar equipment, leaving much to be desired when it comes to the solar sector as a genuine source of energy security and strategic autonomy,” the report (pdf) said.

The researchers calculate that it would be hard for photovoltaic (PV) panel manufacturing firms in the EU to catch up with China in this generation of PV technologies.

The report recommends the EU to ensure that European photovoltaic panel manufacturers have access to investors and international R&D institutes.

The International Solar Alliance that is being spearheaded by France and India could be “extremely important” in advancing technology transfer as well as finding funding sources, it notes.