France is trying to resist Chinese competition. She is trying to launch her own photovoltaic sector, but she is very late. Essentially made up of SMEs, it is no match for the Chinese giants.
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This is an example of the weight of Chinese competition in the French photovoltaic sector: the French solar panel manufacturer Systovi is going out of business. Placed in receivership by the commercial court, it has just announced, on April 17, that it was ending its activities. However, solar panels are on the rise, with more and more individuals and businesses installing them on their roofs. So the demand is there. But Systovi, a small French SME of 90 people, based in Carquefou near Nantes, is no match for the Chinese surge.
This Chinese competition is not new, but it has accelerated here. Already, because China is in overcapacity. It has stocks to sell, because its domestic consumption is decreasing and consequently, it is slashing prices. And then because the United States has completely closed its borders to Chinese solar panels. Europe therefore remains the last large open market. It is impossible for companies like Systovi to resist, it is a textbook case.
Two “tricolor” giga factories by 2026
France is however trying to launch its own photovoltaic sector. Mbut she is very late. And its solar panels are mainly manufactured, precisely, by small companies, like Systovi, and not by large players who can make economies of scale and be more competitive. Roland Lescure, the Minister of Industry, is seeking to develop a sector, with hundreds of millions of euros. Two giga factories must open within two years to mass produce “tricolor” panels: a factory in Sarreguemines in the East and another near Fos-sur-Mer, in the South. But the problem is that these factories will not control the entire manufacturing chain, France will be far from being totally independent from Asia. And for good reason, France comes a long way, today 97% of the solar panels we buy come from China.
There are no real barriers to entry into Europe. In particular, because the Germans do not want to use them, so as not to offend the Chinese to whom they sell machines and cars. This question of the independence of the Union in the face of Asian competition, on solar panels, but also on electric batteries, semiconductors, digital technology, artificial intelligence, shipbuilding, are precisely at the heart of the European summit which is currently being held in Brussels. A summit at which Emmanuel Macron is present.