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Renewable energy
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Why a Chinese renewables giant is pondering a majority localisation in Europe

Europe has prohibited Chinese renewable power inverters from being used in EU-funded projects, citing cybersecurity and dependency risks

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Chinese renewable energy giant Envision Energy’s self-developed generators have surpassed 20,000 units delivered globally and it is planning further localisation efforts in Europe. Photo: handout
Xiaofei Xuin Paris
Chinese renewable energy giant Envision is planning further localisation efforts in Europe, with the ambition to eventually source more than half its supply chain locally for the European market.
“We are working within the European system, with the Europeans, manufacturing in Europe, for Europe, with Europe,” Envision’s energy storage CTO Kotub Uddin told the South China Morning Post during the VivaTech conference in Paris.

The move comes as Europe tries to square its green transition with a drive to reindustrialise and secure its supply chains, amid growing unease over Chinese imports.

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Inverters – devices that convert renewable power into grid-ready electricity – serve as a good example of this pressure. Brussels recently decided to ban Chinese inverters from all EU-funded renewable projects, including wind, solar and battery storage, citing cybersecurity and dependency risks.

While the European Commission said there were more than enough non-Chinese suppliers for the sector to absorb the switch, utility companies in the bloc are feeling the pressure.

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“We cannot manage without Chinese inverters today … We’ll keep trying to diversify, but for now we still source a lot of our inverters from China,” said a senior executive of a major European utility company, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the matter.

“You have to diversify. But to say today that we won’t buy Chinese, that is very, very complicated.”

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