France aims to curb dominance of Chinese solar panel manufacturers

The French government will provide subsidies to support the installation of domestically produced solar panels. It aims to curb the dominance of Chinese manufacturers of the equipment. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said so, according to Bloomberg.

“At present, almost all the panels used in France are imported,” Le Maire said in a speech in southern France.

“Let’s roll up our sleeves and produce 40 percent of the solar panels we use in France by 2030.”

France is seeking to double the annual rate of solar farm installations to six gigawatts. The government will support two panel manufacturing plants led by French start-ups Carbon SAS and HoloSolis SAS. The support will be roughly equivalent to an investment of 2.2 billion euros (55.7 billion Kč), Le Maire added. This year, companies can benefit from tax breaks of up to 200 million euros and may receive additional financial support.

The French minister’s remarks come as the EU considers ways to protect its clean technology industry from Chinese companies. Europe’s solar industry is struggling despite a record number of panels being installed in the region, as cheap Chinese imports undercut domestic manufacturing.

France is among the EU countries most vocal in defending the bloc’s economic interests. The EU has taken steps to include sustainability and resilience criteria in renewable energy auctions to give preference to local manufacturing. By the end of 2025, France intends to make use of a provision in the EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act that allows governments to include cybersecurity and social requirements in public procurement. The aim is to reduce dependence on countries outside the EU.

France will also tighten carbon-content criteria in government tenders for rooftop solar projects from mid-year and add a bonus for “low-carbon” panels used in small ground-mounted solar projects. If the measure proves successful, it will extend the carbon-content criteria to all government support schemes for solar installations, Le Maire added.