Europe’s solar industry warns of bankruptcy risk as prices drop
By Paul Homewood
h/t idau
So much for cheap solar power then!
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Europe’s solar power industry warned on Monday of a "precarious" situation for European solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers as solar PV prices reached record lows.
Industry trade group SolarPower Europe said in a letter sent to the European Commission that European companies risk bankruptcies, which they said would hurt the EU’s goal of reshoring 30 GW of the solar PV supply chain.
Prices of PV modules have dropped by more than a quarter since the beginning of the year, according to SolarPower.
“This is creating concrete risks for companies to go into insolvency as their significant stock will need to be devalued," SolarPower Europe said.
Strong demand, combined with large investments and fierce competition among Chinese suppliers led to overcapacities in the market and a price fall.
The industry calls on the European Commission to buy up European companies’ solar module stockpiles, to set up a Solar Manufacturing Bank at EU level and to boost demand for solar PV in Europe among others.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Solar has never been a good idea , even in hot desert areas [ Ivanpah ] it cannot make enough energy to pay for itself . So no chance in the UK or N Europe.
But the propaganda for it has conned a lot of people into it .Thurrock council lost £650 Million of its taxpayers money on a solar scheme .
…and the consequences for the Councillors who approved this scam? Are they/ have they been investigated by competent authority and if so what is/was the outcome I wonder. These Councillors should be banned from holding any public office, charity or trust and also banned from being involved in any limited liability entity for life.
It’s not a problem, they were saving the planet after all 😡
To be clear, Ivanpah wasn’t using photo-voltaics but mirrors. But your point stands.
The system that Ivanpah was using is supposed to be the most efficient for generating energy for the Sun .
So if that one cannot make it , set in the middle of a desert , PV is never going to in Northern Europe .
Whatch you talkin’ bout? Germany covered thousands of hectare with solar panels, so those PV’s must be efficient, reliable and so very green.
Thank you for the thoughtful post and comments. Is Ivanpah the facility featured in Michael Moore’s movie, Planet of the Humans ? Moore filmed a site of similar design with a generating towers surrounded by broken, discarded mirrors. The site had been abandoned. Moore’s investigation totally put him off the renewable band wagon, and the disclosures in his movie made him anathema to the Green Mafia, who now spit at the mention of his name. You gotta live these guys; you can’t make this stuff up.
Ivanpah was featured in PLANET OF THE HUMANS .
Although the Greens tried to get the film banned .
I believe it is no longer in use , but the media seem very reluctant to mention that as it would prove that Solar is a useless waste of money .This link was from a few years ago.
.https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/17/fail-ivanpah-solar-power-plant-not-producing-enough-electricity-may-be-forced-to-close/
A major problem is dust on the mirrors and the resulting loss of reflectivity caused by removing it.
No water in the desert to wash it off, see!
The unanticipated consequences of supply and demand Vs Ideology.
You do understand that the problem is that the price of solar panels has dropped so quickly?
You do understand why?
Oh you don’t.
In the article is says: “Strong demand, combined with large investments and fierce competition among Chinese suppliers led to overcapacities in the market and a price fall.” Is there some other explanation?
The Chinese will dominate this market, just like E.V’s. After Brexit – Ursula as E.U head honcho signed a trade deal between China and Europe. Many very high profile politicians commented it was a “crappy deal” (even outbound Jean Claude Juncker – and that’s a guy who should certainly recognise a crappy deal when he saw one)!
It just beggars belief how Europe ended up with this many corrupt and serially incompetent bureaucrats fighting over the helm.
Now, more than ever – we need to follow the advice of Adam Smith – and kick bureaucrats, mandarins and posturing politicos OUT of trade and commerce.
What was the statement Ronald Reagan once made about government meddling in business? “The ten scariest words in the English language: Hello, I’m from the government – and I’m here to help”.
Unfortunately, I think we’ve left it too late.
Good comment, I agree. Where did Smith say “kick the bureaucrats out – etc “ please. I need that quote and its source or its equivalent for a book I am writing.
Possibly this?
Little else is requisite to carry a state to the highest degree of opulence from the lowest barbarism, but peace, easy taxes, and a tolerable administration of justice; all the rest being brought about by the natural course of things. All governments which thwart this natural course, which force things into another channel, or which endeavour to arrest the progress of society at a particular point, are unnatural, and to support themselves are obliged to be oppressive and tyrannical
I think Book 5 of The Wealth of Nations deals with the duties of the commonwealth.
“and to support themselves are obliged to be oppressive and tyrannical”
Agreed, Ben. The suppression of freedom must lead to totalitarianism.
It was in ‘Wealth of Nations’ 1776 (I think).
There were several editions.
If we have to have such things, then by all means let us have the cheapest. It is insane to forfe us to gave them but insisting we have the more expensive versions is doubly insane. Smith agreed wirh Ricardo.
In effect they want another subsidy
Hey everyone on here, can you all bung us a Bobby Moore? I got plenty o dosh like but I fancy a trip up West for a Ruby.
Del Boy
Oh I see yes, another group of businesses wanting a bail out because they fell for the lure of a global warming gravy train.
notify comments
This is a forerunner to what will happen in the US.
Biden’s deliberately misnamed Inflation Reduction Act has hosed hundreds of billions at green energy, but how many will be viable, tax-paying businesses?
Most will fail, leaving US taxpayers on the hook for unpaid grants, loans and tax shortages, just as there was under Obama. Solyndra, anyone?
But at least the USA will get new elections – November this year and Presidential next year. This is why the Democrats are persecuting Trump in the courts as they are terrified about the support he has and they won’t get away with voter fraud a second time.
>>Biden’s deliberately misnamed
Yes, you misnamed Joe Bribehim
Excellent point. Joe does have a great many, fitting monikers; I like Barrator Biden, Beijing Biden, lyin’ Biden, Bike-riden’-Biden, and who could forget his alias of Robert L Peters. A man of many moniker, that’s out Boy Brandon.
“they won’t get away with voter fraud a second time.”
How much would you bet on that?
The more practise they get, the better the outcome!
I think they will have a surprise and riots on the streets if ordinary Americans finally decide enough is enough
>>“they won’t get away with voter fraud a second time.”
>> How much would you bet on that?
If the demorats don’t manage to incarcerate Trump there will be no election. There will be tanks in the streets on election day if Trump is on the ballot.
I am confused–STRONG DEMAND has created a DROP in price for solar panels? Have the laws of Econ 101 and supply/demand curves been re-written, or is this logic being used to promote a nationalization of the solar panel industry? Something does not add up; but then again, precious little about the Green Energy industry makes any sense at all.
The strong demand preceded and caused the overcapacity, is my reading of it. The result is presumably large inventories of declining unit value.
They can pile them up next to the rows of unwanted battery cars…
Yes. Problem was the ‘strong demand’ was a fantasy peddled by green propagandists. The demand was never there in the real world.
Yes, strong demand has lead to manufacturers leaping upon the bandwagon, so supply leaps also.
It’s all smoke and mirrors. China has avoided adding huge costs to its industries,unlike Europe. So now European manufacturing cannot compete. But Green industries cannot call for an end to Green policies so they are between a Rock and a Hard Place. Instead they call for taxpayers to pick up the difference between what it costs to manufacture in Europe and what it costs to manufacture in China. This is double lunacy of course.
Looks like a BELIEF in strong demand caused overstocking in the BELIEF this would force prices to rise. Idiots are now stuck with overpriced stock they can’t sell and as usual looking for a bailout.
They’ve stocked up placed orders for more & China is now flooding the market with cheap panels.
As electricity prices rise, consumers see that solar makes sense for them, especially with the push for more electrification for homes & transport.
Solar panel manufacture is an energy intensive process. You can’t be a competitive manufacturer if you energy prices are high. Manufacturers also need consistent, reliable energy supplies. If the EU had cheap reliable energy there would be no need for a “solar manufacturing bank”, whatever that is.
The legacy media fail to see that Germany is in decline due to high energy costs. Having an idiot for Economics Minister doesn’t help as he calls for patriotic investment by auto companies as they move production out of Germany. Perhaps he harks back to the days of Trabants and Wartburgs as you only choice.
They should have done that (or at the very least threatened to) the moment the attacks on petrol and diesel vehicles started instead of wasting resources on making EVs that the actual market does not need or want.
>>auto companies as they move production out of Germany
Don’t be picking on The Sick Boy of Europe. You gotta admire those crazy Germans, going all-in on the renewable energy gamble that didn’t pay off. That is determination !
Solar panel manufacture is an energy intensive process.
They could use solar energy to power the manufacture if it was such a great product 😎
And there’s the rub – Green tech manufacturers cannot demand lower energy prices, even as higher energy prices bankrupt them. If we weren’t picking up the tab, it would be quite funny.
Familiar shroud waving strategy from an industry that was never likely to be strong enough to be weaned off market privileges and public subsidy aided by the green lobby.
I concur. Somewhere on these posts, someone referred to so-called renewables as “subsidy harvesting.” More true words were never spoken.
If any of this made any economic sense at all, private industry would have moved in long ago–but it makes no sense; consequently, the renewables “industry” is nothing more than opportunists smelling money and harvesting subsidies. If you want More of something, subsidize it–Econ 101–and let the contracts to your donors’ companies.
Not a lot of people know that the EU used to impose import controls on Chinese solar panels.
They were subject to a duty of up to 64.9% in Europe if they’re deemed “too cheap”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-china-solar-idUSKBN1JF1CB
Surging energy prices saw big rises in installations last year and this, but the economics have changed because energy prices have fallen back and interest rates have risen, with the result that installations are falling rapidly Installers who ordered extra panels in the hope the boom would continue will now have excess stock, and they may have paid a silly price for it. Chinese production will have taken too long to adjust, filling the supply pipeline and undermining panel prices. I’ve certainly noticed an uptick in ads for solar as installers try to offload their stock.
Lazards will claim that solar is real cheap now because of the cheap dumped import panel prices, ignoring all the other costs of installation. We’ve been here before. Several large Chinese manufacturers went bust last time.
I have made this point before, but I believe the general public perception of solar panels is good, as with wind, they don’t realise how poorly they perform!
What has failed is journalism who do not inform the public of the facts and how poor they are. Instead they seem to praise them with no basis for that praise.
Until that changes it is an uphill struggle to curtail these devices.
Unfortunately the media is now thoroughly untrustworthy, a little research on the Interwebs reveals that most are in receipt of millions of dollars in funding from the Gates Foundation.
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants?q=daily%20telegraph#committed_grants
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants?q=guardian#committed_grants
https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants?q=bbc#committed_grants
Plenty more where they came from.
As Catweazle says above “he who pays the Piper……”
Anyone else remember EU “Butter Mountains”?
This sounds very similar.
Yes, and ‘wine lakes’ around 2005-7. But now…
In 2020, wine growers warned that the EU risked another massive surplus due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,[1] particularly the restaurant closures. The growers called for *additional subsidies* to distill surplus wine.[1] €200 million was spent on wine conversion in 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_lake
Also beef mountains, grain mountains and milk lakes.