China Sunergy Acquires Two Cornish Solar Parks

Chinese solar photovoltaic module manufacturer China Sunergy announced last week that it had:

Completed the transactions to procure its first two solar park projects in the United Kingdom (UK). The two solar parks with a size of about 5 MW each are located in the southwest of Cornwall region. China Sunergy will arrange the construction of the projects, and then own and operate these two solar parks itself.

China Sunergy were rather coy about which two solar farms they had purchased, but according to the BBC the sites involved are Higher Tregarne near Falmouth and Causilgey Farm near Truro. German solar PV developer AEE Renewables originally obtained planning permission from Cornwall County Council to build the two 5 MW sites.

In a perhaps not entirely unrelated development, a group of Chinese solar module manufacturers have banded together to resist European Union moves to impose trade tariffs on solar panels manufactured in China. The United States Department of Commerce recently decided to impose such tariffs, and in another press release issued last week the Alliance for Affordable Solar Energy (or AFASE for short) say that they are:

Calling on the European Commission to abstain from imposing countervailing duties in order to protect the future of the European solar industry. The European Commission has published today the Notice of Initiation of an anti-subsidy investigation of Chinese solar products. The anti-subsidy proceeding is distinct from an anti-dumping investigation concerning Chinese solar products the European Commission started beginning of September 2012.

Free trade is the prerequisite for affordable solar products allowing solar energy to become competitive with conventional power sources. With punitive tariffs, however, the EU’s reliance on fossil fuels would be prolonged and the achievements of the EU climate goals would be at risk.

Note that China Sunergy do not currently appear on the AFASE's long list of supporters.