AFASE leads companies concerned with EC China choices to Brussels
Over 30 concerned European PV companies are travelling to Brussels to attend a hearing at the European Commission organized by the Alliance for Affordable Solar (AFASE). CEOs will detail how duties are already leading to order cancellations and job cuts contrary to the Commission's optimistic findings that the industry could miraculously create other markets or absorb the duties itself during the economic crisis.
Referring to the European Commission's regulation on preliminary measures published on 5 June, Dennis Gieselaar, Managing Director of the Dutch company Oskomera Solar Power Solutions and Board member of AFASE e.V. stated that "The Commission has based all of its assessments on a sample of only 7 companies! The vast majority of EU installers cannot afford to absorb duties, even at the current level of 11,8%. For most of the downstream players, net profits are well below 10%. The Commission is also wrong to claim that PV installers can shift sectors easily; PV installers and project companies cannot move to a totally different activity such as wind. We are a professional and specialised industry, our staffs receive specific training and cannot switch sector from one day to the next".
As an unfortunate illustration of the impact of preliminary duties, Gehrlicher Solar AG (GSAG), one of the oldest companies in the solar industry and one of AFASE's first members, announced on 9 July 2013 having filed for insolvency as a direct consequence of "EU-wide introduction of anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese modules and the resulting deterioration of market conditions in Europe".
With that example in mind, Thorsten Preugschas, CEO of Soventix GmbH and Chairman of AFASE e.V. said: "We are coming to Brussels to plead against continuing these harmful and detrimental duties, as they are only leading to market contraction and are costing many green jobs across Europe. We have already had to lay off workers as prices increased and demand has been severely scaled back since registration and preliminary duties. I can only hope the example of Gehrlicher Solar will awaken the European Commission and tomorrow's intervention will convince them to act rather than sit by the sidelines while our industry collapses".
Earlier this year, a study presented by the independent Swiss research institute Prognos highlighted that the imposition of duty, at any level, would automatically trigger a demand contraction resulting in job losses. As much as 242,000 European employments could be destroyed in the coming three years with duties of 60%, the study concluded.
