Brussels — The European Commission has opened a new investigation into subsidies received by Chinese suppliers of turbines destined for wind parks in Europe, in its latest action against manufacturers of clean tech products in China.
The Commission will look into the conditions for the development of wind parks in Spain, Greece, France, Romania and Bulgaria, European Union Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a speech delivered on Tuesday.
A body representing Chinese business interests in Brussels expressed its “profound dissatisfaction” over what it called protectionism and a lack of transparency from the EU as it rolls out its new rules to counter state aid from foreign actors.
The China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union said in an e-mailed statement that the EU’s “continuous deployment of new tools against Chinese enterprises” represents “an act of economic coercion”.
“This action sends a detrimental signal to the world, suggesting discrimination against Chinese enterprises and endorsing protectionism,” it added.
The Commission is already investigating whether to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports, and says it has evidence showing they benefit from subsidies.
Vestager said the EU needed to adopt a more systematic approach, with case-by-case investigations meaning the bloc was “playing whack-a-mole”.
“And we need to do it before it is too late. We can’t afford to see what happened on solar panels happening again on electric vehicles, wind or essential chips,” she added.
European wind industry lobby group WindEurope, whose members include major turbine makers Vestas, Siemens Energy and Nordex welcomed the probe.
“It is only natural that the (EU Commission) use the tools at its disposal to restore fair and open competition on the market,” said WindEurope Chief Policy Officer Pierre Tardieu on a conference call.
He added that European manufacturers were banned from using state-backed financing to shore up their bids by offering cheaper prices or deferring payments under OECD free trade rules.
The EU’s installed wind turbines are mostly made in the bloc, but Chinese manufacturers have been rapidly building to about a two-thirds share of the global market in 2022. For solar panels, Chinese producers have over 90% of the EU market.
The wind power investigation would come under EU foreign subsidies regulation, which has allowed the Commission since July 2023 to assess whether foreign subsidies allow companies to submit overly advantageous offers in public tenders.
Shares of Danish wind turbine producer Vestas were up 3.7% in early afternoon trading. The company declined to comment when asked by Reuters about the plans to investigate some of its Chinese rivals.
Last week, the Commission opened two investigations into whether Chinese bidders in a public tender for a solar power park in Romania had benefited excessively from subsidies.
Its first investigation into foreign subsidies ended after Chinese train maker CRRC Qingdao Sifang Locomotive withdrew from a Bulgarian tender for electric trains.
Reporting by Inti Landauro, Philip Blenkinsop and Tassilo Hummel; Additional reporting by Nina Chestney in London, Terje Solsvik, Louise Breusch Rasmussen in Oslo; Editing by Philip Blenkinsop, Alexander Smith and Jan Harvey – Reuters
