Chinese wind turbine-makers move into Europe as trade tensions flare
Adds comment from Chinese wind energy association in paragraphs 10-11
China says does not subsidise unfairly
Europe has painful memories of Chinese solar panels
German government says it is monitoring Mingyang deal
RWE visited Mingyang production in China
By Riham Alkousaa, Christoph Steitz, Nina Chestney
BERLIN/FRANKFURT/LONDON, July 19 (Reuters) -Chinese wind turbine-makers this month clinched their first order in Germany, as they build momentum in the European market and add to concern in the EU industry that it faces an existential threat.
Tensions are high between Beijing and Brussels, the world's two biggest wind markets, as the European Commission, the EU executive, has launched an investigation into whether Chinese players enjoy unfair subsidies.
Europe is scarred by the experience of its solar industry more than a decade ago when policymakers took limited action to curb Chinese imports and many European manufacturers collapsed.
Chinese manufacturers Goldwind 002202.SZ, Mingyang Smart Energy 601615.SS and Windey 300772.SZ so far account for less than 1% of Europe's wind capacity, but their orders amounted to 1.2 gigawatts (GW) in 2023 alone, WindEurope data shows. It previously took them a decade to install that volume.
So far this year, European orders for Chinese-made turbines have reached 546 megawatts (MW).
That includes an order at the start of this month from project firm Luxcara in Germany with Mingyang for wind turbines with a total capacity of 296 MW. It was the first order for Chinese-made turbines from Europe's biggest economy and the German government said it would examine the decision closely.
European industry officials say China could be in Europe to stay.
"Once you open the door you can't close it again," said Wolfram Axthelm, managing director of Germany's wind power association BWE, adding that overcapacity meant Chinese rivals were seeking to flood the European market.
European industry representatives say Chinese manufacturers offer incentives, such as deferred payments, and prices that are up to 50% lower those of than European rivals.
According to the Global Wind Energy Council, China has production capacity of around 82 GW, more than the domestic market was able to absorb last year and nearly four times Europe's capacity.
The Chinese Wind Energy association said in a statement that China does not subsidise its wind turbine manufacturers, adding that China's competitiveness came from the size of its market, which has driven down costs.
"The EU's 'anti-subsidy investigation' into Chinese wind firms is not conducive to Europe's wind power development goals, nor to the achievement of global climate change goals," said its secretary general Qin Haiyan.
It said Europe needed to buy equipment from China, and that failing to do so would put EU expansion targets at risk "in the face of Europe's wind power production capacity gap".
VISIT TO CHINA
Major wind project developers such as EnBW EBKG.DE and BayWa BYWGnx.DE have so far avoided the use of Chinese turbines.
In a LinkedIn post in early July, RWE's RWEG.DE head of offshore wind Sven Utermoehlen said he had visited Mingyang's production facilities to get a better understanding of its products. The visit took place at the end of June.
RWE, the world's second-biggest offshore wind farm developer, told Reuters it wanted to keep working with established firms.
However, strong market growth meant it needed to understand whether Asian suppliers "can meet our requirements in terms of technology, quality, safety and cost-effectiveness".
Mingyang was the only company that would guarantee delivery of an 18.5 MW model by 2028, Luxcara said.
An 18 MW offshore turbine can produce enough power to supply more than 30,000 households.
The ambition of the Chinese companies is apparent in the size of their output. Mingyang makes offshore turbines with rotor diameters of 260 metres, among the biggest in the industry.
WILL CHINA START PRODUCING IN EUROPE?
Despite the challenge of shipping gigantic equipment, Mingyang and most other Chinese turbine makers have no production facilities in Europe.
Vensys, a division of Goldwind is an exception. It plans to produce an 86-metre wind turbine blade model at its factory in Ferreira, Spain, it told Reuters in June, without providing further details.
Zhenshi Holding Group in March acquired an Airbus AIR.PA factory in Spain to manufacture wind turbine blades, according to real estate firm Colliers, which advised on the transaction.
Evgenia Golysheva, VP Strategy and Operations at ONYX Insight, a renewable technology firm that helps to service wind turbines, said the companies would need local production. Without it, they would struggle to maintain equipment without shipping parts huge distances.
Chinese wind turbine maker Sany 600031.SS said last year it was weighing the construction of a turbine plant in Europe. It has hired former executives from Siemens Gamesa and Nordex NDXG.DE to strengthen its local team, updated LinkedIn profiles showed.
Sany was not available for comment for this story and Goldwind and Zhenshi declined to comment.
Mingyang said Chinese competition was beneficial to Europe, although it understood not everyone would welcome it.
"Some competitors ... don't want us to be in Europe. It can be understandable," Zhang Qiying, chief technology officer of Mingyang, told Reuters.
"If the West demands our turbines, then we will be there."
($1 = 0.9173 euros)
The world's biggest wind turbine makers https://reut.rs/3Y4TwEz
Reporting by Riham Alkousaa and Markus Wacket in Berlin, Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt and Nina Chestney in London; Additional reporting by Pietro Lombardi in Madrid and Colleen Howe in Beijing; Editing by Barbara Lewis
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آخر الأخبار
إخلاء المسؤولية: تتيح كيانات XM Group خدمة تنفيذية فقط والدخول إلى منصة تداولنا عبر الإنترنت، مما يسمح للشخص بمشاهدة و/أو استخدام المحتوى المتاح على موقع الويب أو عن طريقه، وهذا المحتوى لا يراد به التغيير أو التوسع عن ذلك. يخضع هذا الدخول والاستخدام دائماً لما يلي: (1) الشروط والأحكام؛ (2) تحذيرات المخاطر؛ (3) إخلاء المسؤولية الكامل. لذلك يُقدم هذا المحتوى على أنه ليس أكثر من معلومات عامة. تحديداً، يرجى الانتباه إلى أن المحتوى المتاح على منصة تداولنا عبر الإنترنت ليس طلباً أو عرضاً لدخول أي معاملات في الأسواق المالية. التداول في أي سوق مالي به مخاطرة عالية برأس مالك.
جميع المواد المنشورة على منصة تداولنا مخصصة للأغراض التعليمية/المعلوماتية فقط ولا تحتوي - ولا ينبغي اعتبار أنها تحتوي - على نصائح أو توصيات مالية أو ضريبية أو تجارية، أو سجلاً لأسعار تداولنا، أو عرضاً أو طلباً لأي معاملة في أي صكوك مالية أو عروض ترويجية مالية لا داعي لها.
أي محتوى تابع للغير بالإضافة إلى المحتوى الذي أعدته XM، مثل الآراء، والأخبار، والأبحاث، والتحليلات والأسعار وغيرها من المعلومات أو روابط مواقع تابعة للغير وواردة في هذا الموقع تُقدم لك "كما هي"، كتعليق عام على السوق ولا تعتبر نصيحة استثمارية. يجب ألا يُفسر أي محتوى على أنه بحث استثماري، وأن تلاحظ وتقبل أن المحتوى غير مُعدٍ وفقاً للمتطلبات القانونية المصممة لتعزيز استقلالية البحث الاستثماري، وبالتالي، فهو بمثابة تواصل تسويقي بموجب القوانين واللوائح ذات الصلة. فضلاً تأكد من أنك قد قرأت وفهمت الإخطار بالبحوث الاستثمارية غير المستقلة والتحذير من مخاطر المعلومات السابقة، والذي يمكنك الاطلاع عليه هنا.
