Just several months after the United States initiated anti-dumping and countervailing investigations against China's solar panels industry, Europe, the largest buyer of Chinese solar products started another round of a trade war with Chinese manufacturers. On 6 September, the European Commission (EC) announced to launch an anti-dumping investigation in China’s photovoltaic (PV) batteries.

Shi Dinghuan, chairman of the Chinese Renewable Energy Institute worries that if the anti-dumping case is verified, a large number of Chinese PV companies will face the risk of bankruptcy, while the whole industry, as well as economy and the society will be seriously affected.

Disaster or not, industry insiders however suggest that what Chinese PV companies do next is to enhance innovation, transform production to research and development, complete the transition from China made to China create.

Worries and risks

The photovoltaic industry, once considered as a thriving industry, has undergone economic winter in the past year. The news that the EU and US decided to launch the anti-dumping investigations against China’s PV products have caused anxieties among the public about the future of China’s PV industry.

Li Lei, researcher from China Energy Storage Alliance said numbers of small and medium-sized enterprises have started their PV business in China’s mainland in recent years; however most of these companies are of small size with low technical level, innovation deficiency and less competitiveness. In an effort to expand oversea market, some of these companies adopted the low-price strategy, but they haven’t noticed that the stronger-than-expected cost drop has caused anxiety among their counterparts and the Western countries have tightened policy support on the PV industry. All these factors have led to anti-dumping investigation into Chinese companies.

Statistics show that EU is now the biggest client of Chinese small and medium-sized PV enterprises, and nearly 60 percent of China’s PV exports were shipped to the European market in 2011. Industry insiders worry that if the EU closes the gate, many of Chinese PV companies will face short capital supply, 60 percent or more PV enterprises may go bankruptcy.

Way out

"What the Chinese PV enterprises are experiencing mirrors the innovation deficiency of Chinese PV industry. Due to limited technology level, Chinese PV companies are unable to manufacture complete sets of PV equipments, which is the must-resolve problem Chinese PV manufactures face. " said Li Lei.

Statistics from SIPO show that PV industry in China covers three types of patents applications, of which, 60% are utility model, 26.66% are industrial design, the rest 13.33% are for inventions. To optimize the patent structure, Chinese PV companies should increase the technical strength.

"Now, Chinese PV industries should increase investment into research and development of complete plants, develop core technology with independent IPR. In the long run, Chinese enterprises should strengthen the patent cooperation and exchanges, conduct patent cross-licensing. Also, they should league together and seek legal resolutions actively." suggest Li Lei. 

（Source: China IP News）