European PV manufacturing ‘house is on fire’, ESMC calls for IRA-style measures to support production

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
The ESMC called for an extension on the EU’s 2025 PV manufacturing target to reach 80GW capacity by 2030. Image: Meyer Burger.

Europe needs to galvanise a competitive PV manufacturing ecosystem in the same vein as the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC).

The ESMC, a representative body for the European PV manufacturing industry, outlined its desires for a more expansive programme of support and investment into manufacturing in a letter to the European Commission ahead of the launch of the European Solar PV Alliance on 9 December.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

The letter, which can be read here, outlined eight proposals described as “fast, concrete, mature and comprehensive” measures to maximise the success of the alliance. The top-line request was an alignment with the proposals of the US IRA, to be delivered either through tax incentives or direct grants to manufacturing projects.

The letter said that “on a global scale, the European PV manufacturing industry currently is almost non-existing, due to fierce competition and an unlevel playing field”.

The European Solar PV Alliance will aim to address these concerns, and secretary general Johan Lindahl of the ESMC said: “This marks an important cornerstone in developing a competitive European PV manufacturing industry across the full PV value chain.”

The ESMC said it welcomed the EU’s target of 30GW of PV manufacturing by 2025, but proposed a greater, extended target of 80GW by 2030.

It asked for a €20 billion (US$20.9 billion) special finance vehicle to de-risk investments and allow for greater resilience, akin to the European Chips Act that was introduced to bolster the bloc’s resilience and competitiveness in semiconductor technology.

The proposal letter also highlighted significant offtake agreements as a key measure for developing a European manufacturing culture, to drive demand for locally manufactured PV in the face of the significant incentives given in other countries. This year, India has seen an extended pair of incentives – the basic customs duty tariff on module and cell imports and the production-linked incentive scheme, which aims at adding 65GW of manufacturing capacity.

A further measure was the removal of permitting red tape for manufacturing plants. Earlier this year, the EU introduced an emergency regulation under the REPowerEU scheme that mandated shorter permitting times for PV deployments. The ESMC expressed a desire for an extension of this principle of ‘positive administrative silence’ to manufacturing permits.

“Supportive policies are the backbone of the competitiveness of the European PV industry,” said Žygimantas Vaičiūnas, policy director at ESMC.

“The European PV manufacturing ‘house is on fire’ in a view of the urgency created by the US IRA.”

PV Tech recently examined the role that domestic European manufacturing could play in addressing the concerns around the traceability of Chinese-imported modules, as well as the economic incentives around market sustainability and energy prices that major players in the European market have highlighted.

You can read the full list of the ESMC’s proposals in detail here.

25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.
2 December 2025
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2026. PV ModuleTech Europe 2025 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.
10 March 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.

Read Next

September 5, 2025
Scientists from Germany and Saudi Arabia have discovered that perovskite thin-film cells are compatible with current industry standard silicon solar cells, which they claim is a “crucial step toward the industrialisation of perovskite silicon tandem solar cells”.
September 5, 2025
During a week of major US clean energy developments, ContourGlobal, PSE, Arevon, and Ameren Missouri advanced solar projects across four states in the US.
September 5, 2025
Newly formed firm Solaris Assets has acquired the business operations and assets of Texas-based residential solar installer Sunnova.
September 5, 2025
Research firm Rystad Energy has found that Queensland’s utility-scale solar PV power plants have dominated the best-performing assets, in terms of AC capacity factor, rankings for August 2025.
September 4, 2025
India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, the joint forum of the Centre and States, has reduced the GST rate on renewable energy components from 12% to 5%. 
September 4, 2025
The Czech national cybersecurity agency has warned that Chinese solar inverters represent a threat to the country’s data security.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines