France Urges Import Standards to Contain China's Import of Solar Panels

Part of the reason that France decided to suspend most solar projects for three months was to curb China's cheap import of solar panels, said French Minister of the Environment Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet in the French Information Radio. “90% of solar panels installed in France come from China, and our import standards must be strengthened.” Kosciusko-Morizet said, “We are not here to subsidize the Chinese economy but to create green jobs in France.”

After realizing that their subsidy policies were too generous, European governments began to revise their solar energy policies. This led developers to start buying solar panels mainly from Chinese suppliers, including Yingli Green Energy Holdings Co., Ltd., like the German Q-Cells SE and Spain's Solaria Energia & Medi Ambiente SA's products have been left out.

In order to study whether it is necessary to restrict the construction of power stations and further reduce the subsidy rate paid to solar power companies, France suspended some of its projects on December 10 for a period of three months. France's on-grid tariff subsidy rate, the highest in Europe, once triggered the prosperity of French engineering applications. France follows similar initiatives in Spain and Germany and is seeking ways for consumers to limit the cost of rising clean energy.

France has suspended projects with a capacity of more than 3 KW. As long as the power generation starts within 18 months, the regulation will allow the project that has been awarded with the French utility company to win the subsidy rate 9 months ago.