Elsewhere, Spain has not ruled out tariffs on imports of solar panel materials. The Netherlands wants to cover solar PV imports with the EU's carbon border tax, a government official told Reuters. And Italy last week announced a 90 million euro ($97 million) investment in a PV panel factory in Sicily.
"Instead of sanctioning the entire industry through tariffs, we must incentivize solar installations that originate from resilient European solar production. This way, the deployment of solar energy can continue undisturbed while the European solar manufacturing can grow steadily," said Erfurt, who is CEO of Swiss solar cell maker Meyer Burger.
Brussels is scaling back tariffs on Chinese solar panels as it seeks to settle divisions over penalties against Beijing for dumping products on European markets. Two sets of EU tariffs will be extended for 18 months under a decision on Wednesday by the European Commission, which previously wanted to prolong the penalties for two years.
The European Commission this month launched an investigation that could lead to tariffs to protect EU producers against cheaper Chinese electric vehicle imports. Meanwhile, Germany is examining options including trade protections to shield local solar manufacturers from falling global prices, a government document seen by Reuters showed.
European solar panel manufacturers have previously asked the EU to consider trade safeguards on Chinese imports, but Brussels and governments including Germany have warned broad curbs on Chinese supply could stunt Europe's fast expansion of clean energy.
"Tariffs are not a good answer to the current challenges in the European solar industry," said Gunter Erfurt, Board Director at industry group SolarPower Europe, whose members include producers, large buyers and companies involved in installation.