tardigrade

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10395497

• Tata Power sees a potential 2-3 GW market for Indian-made solar cells and modules in at least one European country.
• The company has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module capacity and plans up to 10 GW of upstream ingot and wafer manufacturing.
• Indian supply could help Europe reduce its reliance on China, although diversification through imports is not the same as rebuilding European manufacturing.

Tata Power is preparing to export solar cells and modules to Europe for the first time as procurement rules and energy security concerns encourage developers to seek alternatives to Chinese equipment.

Chief executive Praveer Sinha told reporters during a post-results call that the Indian company had identified a potential opportunity of between 2-3 GW in one European country. He did not name the market or disclose any specific orders.

Tata Power currently has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module manufacturing capacity. It is also considering up to 10 GW of capacity to manufacture solar ingots and wafers, the upstream materials needed to produce cells.

The proposed exports would represent a significant change from late 2024, when Sinha said output from the company’s new Tamil Nadu factory was committed to the Indian market for the following 12 to 16 months. Since then, India’s manufacturing base has expanded rapidly, creating greater pressure to identify overseas customers.

...

Europe offers a large but highly contested market. More than 95% of solar modules installed in the EU are imported, with China accounting for roughly 94% of module and cell supplies in 2023. Low Chinese prices have supported rapid deployment but contributed to factory closures and weak investment in European manufacturing.

The EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act seeks to reduce that exposure by introducing resilience and sustainability criteria into renewable energy auctions. It also sets an ambition for European manufacturing capacity to approach 40% of the bloc’s annual deployment needs by 2030.

Italy provided an early test of the approach in 2025, awarding more than 1.1 GW to 88 solar projects in its first auction restricted to equipment made outside China. The average tariff was €66.38/MWh, around 17% higher than in earlier auctions without sourcing restrictions, according to Reuters.

...

Supply chain resilience

Indian manufacturers' equipment can offer buyers an alternative to Chinese final assembly without carrying the full cost of European production. An EU-India trade agreement concluded earlier this year, which reduced tariffs on most goods, could improve that proposition further.

...

However, the distinction between assembly location and supply chain origin will matter. Unless suppliers can demonstrate where wafers, polysilicon and other inputs were produced, modules assembled in India may still contain a substantial amount of Chinese material. Tata Power’s planned upstream expansion could therefore prove more strategically important than its existing module capacity.

The development is relevant to the UK even though EU procurement rules do not apply directly. The UK’s Solar Roadmap calls for more resilient, diverse and sustainable supply chains, with particular emphasis on traceability and eliminating forced labour.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10395497

• Tata Power sees a potential 2-3 GW market for Indian-made solar cells and modules in at least one European country.
• The company has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module capacity and plans up to 10 GW of upstream ingot and wafer manufacturing.
• Indian supply could help Europe reduce its reliance on China, although diversification through imports is not the same as rebuilding European manufacturing.

Tata Power is preparing to export solar cells and modules to Europe for the first time as procurement rules and energy security concerns encourage developers to seek alternatives to Chinese equipment.

Chief executive Praveer Sinha told reporters during a post-results call that the Indian company had identified a potential opportunity of between 2-3 GW in one European country. He did not name the market or disclose any specific orders.

Tata Power currently has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module manufacturing capacity. It is also considering up to 10 GW of capacity to manufacture solar ingots and wafers, the upstream materials needed to produce cells.

The proposed exports would represent a significant change from late 2024, when Sinha said output from the company’s new Tamil Nadu factory was committed to the Indian market for the following 12 to 16 months. Since then, India’s manufacturing base has expanded rapidly, creating greater pressure to identify overseas customers.

...

Europe offers a large but highly contested market. More than 95% of solar modules installed in the EU are imported, with China accounting for roughly 94% of module and cell supplies in 2023. Low Chinese prices have supported rapid deployment but contributed to factory closures and weak investment in European manufacturing.

The EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act seeks to reduce that exposure by introducing resilience and sustainability criteria into renewable energy auctions. It also sets an ambition for European manufacturing capacity to approach 40% of the bloc’s annual deployment needs by 2030.

Italy provided an early test of the approach in 2025, awarding more than 1.1 GW to 88 solar projects in its first auction restricted to equipment made outside China. The average tariff was €66.38/MWh, around 17% higher than in earlier auctions without sourcing restrictions, according to Reuters.

...

Supply chain resilience

Indian manufacturers' equipment can offer buyers an alternative to Chinese final assembly without carrying the full cost of European production. An EU-India trade agreement concluded earlier this year, which reduced tariffs on most goods, could improve that proposition further.

...

However, the distinction between assembly location and supply chain origin will matter. Unless suppliers can demonstrate where wafers, polysilicon and other inputs were produced, modules assembled in India may still contain a substantial amount of Chinese material. Tata Power’s planned upstream expansion could therefore prove more strategically important than its existing module capacity.

The development is relevant to the UK even though EU procurement rules do not apply directly. The UK’s Solar Roadmap calls for more resilient, diverse and sustainable supply chains, with particular emphasis on traceability and eliminating forced labour.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10395497

• Tata Power sees a potential 2-3 GW market for Indian-made solar cells and modules in at least one European country.
• The company has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module capacity and plans up to 10 GW of upstream ingot and wafer manufacturing.
• Indian supply could help Europe reduce its reliance on China, although diversification through imports is not the same as rebuilding European manufacturing.

Tata Power is preparing to export solar cells and modules to Europe for the first time as procurement rules and energy security concerns encourage developers to seek alternatives to Chinese equipment.

Chief executive Praveer Sinha told reporters during a post-results call that the Indian company had identified a potential opportunity of between 2-3 GW in one European country. He did not name the market or disclose any specific orders.

Tata Power currently has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module manufacturing capacity. It is also considering up to 10 GW of capacity to manufacture solar ingots and wafers, the upstream materials needed to produce cells.

The proposed exports would represent a significant change from late 2024, when Sinha said output from the company’s new Tamil Nadu factory was committed to the Indian market for the following 12 to 16 months. Since then, India’s manufacturing base has expanded rapidly, creating greater pressure to identify overseas customers.

...

Europe offers a large but highly contested market. More than 95% of solar modules installed in the EU are imported, with China accounting for roughly 94% of module and cell supplies in 2023. Low Chinese prices have supported rapid deployment but contributed to factory closures and weak investment in European manufacturing.

The EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act seeks to reduce that exposure by introducing resilience and sustainability criteria into renewable energy auctions. It also sets an ambition for European manufacturing capacity to approach 40% of the bloc’s annual deployment needs by 2030.

Italy provided an early test of the approach in 2025, awarding more than 1.1 GW to 88 solar projects in its first auction restricted to equipment made outside China. The average tariff was €66.38/MWh, around 17% higher than in earlier auctions without sourcing restrictions, according to Reuters.

...

Supply chain resilience

Indian manufacturers' equipment can offer buyers an alternative to Chinese final assembly without carrying the full cost of European production. An EU-India trade agreement concluded earlier this year, which reduced tariffs on most goods, could improve that proposition further.

...

However, the distinction between assembly location and supply chain origin will matter. Unless suppliers can demonstrate where wafers, polysilicon and other inputs were produced, modules assembled in India may still contain a substantial amount of Chinese material. Tata Power’s planned upstream expansion could therefore prove more strategically important than its existing module capacity.

The development is relevant to the UK even though EU procurement rules do not apply directly. The UK’s Solar Roadmap calls for more resilient, diverse and sustainable supply chains, with particular emphasis on traceability and eliminating forced labour.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10395497

• Tata Power sees a potential 2-3 GW market for Indian-made solar cells and modules in at least one European country.
• The company has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module capacity and plans up to 10 GW of upstream ingot and wafer manufacturing.
• Indian supply could help Europe reduce its reliance on China, although diversification through imports is not the same as rebuilding European manufacturing.

Tata Power is preparing to export solar cells and modules to Europe for the first time as procurement rules and energy security concerns encourage developers to seek alternatives to Chinese equipment.

Chief executive Praveer Sinha told reporters during a post-results call that the Indian company had identified a potential opportunity of between 2-3 GW in one European country. He did not name the market or disclose any specific orders.

Tata Power currently has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module manufacturing capacity. It is also considering up to 10 GW of capacity to manufacture solar ingots and wafers, the upstream materials needed to produce cells.

The proposed exports would represent a significant change from late 2024, when Sinha said output from the company’s new Tamil Nadu factory was committed to the Indian market for the following 12 to 16 months. Since then, India’s manufacturing base has expanded rapidly, creating greater pressure to identify overseas customers.

...

Europe offers a large but highly contested market. More than 95% of solar modules installed in the EU are imported, with China accounting for roughly 94% of module and cell supplies in 2023. Low Chinese prices have supported rapid deployment but contributed to factory closures and weak investment in European manufacturing.

The EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act seeks to reduce that exposure by introducing resilience and sustainability criteria into renewable energy auctions. It also sets an ambition for European manufacturing capacity to approach 40% of the bloc’s annual deployment needs by 2030.

Italy provided an early test of the approach in 2025, awarding more than 1.1 GW to 88 solar projects in its first auction restricted to equipment made outside China. The average tariff was €66.38/MWh, around 17% higher than in earlier auctions without sourcing restrictions, according to Reuters.

...

Supply chain resilience

Indian manufacturers' equipment can offer buyers an alternative to Chinese final assembly without carrying the full cost of European production. An EU-India trade agreement concluded earlier this year, which reduced tariffs on most goods, could improve that proposition further.

...

However, the distinction between assembly location and supply chain origin will matter. Unless suppliers can demonstrate where wafers, polysilicon and other inputs were produced, modules assembled in India may still contain a substantial amount of Chinese material. Tata Power’s planned upstream expansion could therefore prove more strategically important than its existing module capacity.

The development is relevant to the UK even though EU procurement rules do not apply directly. The UK’s Solar Roadmap calls for more resilient, diverse and sustainable supply chains, with particular emphasis on traceability and eliminating forced labour.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10394465

...

Brussels has been examining ways to shield European industry from what many manufacturers say is the negative fallout from China’s industrial overcapacity and subsidised exports.

Stefania Pigozzi, head of economic studies at Italian machine tool industry association UCIMU, said Chinese manufacturers had largely satisfied domestic demand and are now rapidly expanding overseas.

UCIMU said it wants imported machinery to be subject to the same technical and safety standards required of European manufacturers in order to level the playing field.

"Europe needs common rules that apply to everyone," Pigozzi told Reuters. "Machinery safety standards, for example, have a direct impact on production costs and ultimately on the final price of a product."

For most Italian companies, meanwhile, moving production to China to compete against Chinese manufacturers on equal terms is not an option, she added.

UCIMU represents about 250 producers of machine tools, robots, automation systems and components with combined revenue of roughly €8 billion ($9.1 billion) and employing some 30,000 workers.

...

According to data compiled by UCIMU from national industry associations and Italy’s trade agency ICE, China’s share of global metalworking machine tool exports rose to 23% in 2025 from 8% in 2016, while Europe’s fell to 46% from 52% during the same period.

Italy, the world’s fourth-largest machine tool exporter, also lost ground over the period. Its share of global exports slipped to 7.8% in 2025 from 8.4% in 2016, while Italian exports to China plunged to €110 million from €316 million.

The concerns of Italian manufacturers echo a broader debate within the EU.

...

Earlier this year Italy joined France, Spain and two other countries in calling on Brussels to strengthen trade defence tools to protect European industry from unfair competition.

...

Archived

• Tata Power sees a potential 2-3 GW market for Indian-made solar cells and modules in at least one European country.
• The company has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module capacity and plans up to 10 GW of upstream ingot and wafer manufacturing.
• Indian supply could help Europe reduce its reliance on China, although diversification through imports is not the same as rebuilding European manufacturing.

Tata Power is preparing to export solar cells and modules to Europe for the first time as procurement rules and energy security concerns encourage developers to seek alternatives to Chinese equipment.

Chief executive Praveer Sinha told reporters during a post-results call that the Indian company had identified a potential opportunity of between 2-3 GW in one European country. He did not name the market or disclose any specific orders.

Tata Power currently has 4.9 GW of integrated cell and module manufacturing capacity. It is also considering up to 10 GW of capacity to manufacture solar ingots and wafers, the upstream materials needed to produce cells.

The proposed exports would represent a significant change from late 2024, when Sinha said output from the company’s new Tamil Nadu factory was committed to the Indian market for the following 12 to 16 months. Since then, India’s manufacturing base has expanded rapidly, creating greater pressure to identify overseas customers.

...

Europe offers a large but highly contested market. More than 95% of solar modules installed in the EU are imported, with China accounting for roughly 94% of module and cell supplies in 2023. Low Chinese prices have supported rapid deployment but contributed to factory closures and weak investment in European manufacturing.

The EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act seeks to reduce that exposure by introducing resilience and sustainability criteria into renewable energy auctions. It also sets an ambition for European manufacturing capacity to approach 40% of the bloc’s annual deployment needs by 2030.

Italy provided an early test of the approach in 2025, awarding more than 1.1 GW to 88 solar projects in its first auction restricted to equipment made outside China. The average tariff was €66.38/MWh, around 17% higher than in earlier auctions without sourcing restrictions, according to Reuters.

...

Supply chain resilience

Indian manufacturers' equipment can offer buyers an alternative to Chinese final assembly without carrying the full cost of European production. An EU-India trade agreement concluded earlier this year, which reduced tariffs on most goods, could improve that proposition further.

...

However, the distinction between assembly location and supply chain origin will matter. Unless suppliers can demonstrate where wafers, polysilicon and other inputs were produced, modules assembled in India may still contain a substantial amount of Chinese material. Tata Power’s planned upstream expansion could therefore prove more strategically important than its existing module capacity.

The development is relevant to the UK even though EU procurement rules do not apply directly. The UK’s Solar Roadmap calls for more resilient, diverse and sustainable supply chains, with particular emphasis on traceability and eliminating forced labour.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10394465

...

Brussels has been examining ways to shield European industry from what many manufacturers say is the negative fallout from China’s industrial overcapacity and subsidised exports.

Stefania Pigozzi, head of economic studies at Italian machine tool industry association UCIMU, said Chinese manufacturers had largely satisfied domestic demand and are now rapidly expanding overseas.

UCIMU said it wants imported machinery to be subject to the same technical and safety standards required of European manufacturers in order to level the playing field.

"Europe needs common rules that apply to everyone," Pigozzi told Reuters. "Machinery safety standards, for example, have a direct impact on production costs and ultimately on the final price of a product."

For most Italian companies, meanwhile, moving production to China to compete against Chinese manufacturers on equal terms is not an option, she added.

UCIMU represents about 250 producers of machine tools, robots, automation systems and components with combined revenue of roughly €8 billion ($9.1 billion) and employing some 30,000 workers.

...

According to data compiled by UCIMU from national industry associations and Italy’s trade agency ICE, China’s share of global metalworking machine tool exports rose to 23% in 2025 from 8% in 2016, while Europe’s fell to 46% from 52% during the same period.

Italy, the world’s fourth-largest machine tool exporter, also lost ground over the period. Its share of global exports slipped to 7.8% in 2025 from 8.4% in 2016, while Italian exports to China plunged to €110 million from €316 million.

The concerns of Italian manufacturers echo a broader debate within the EU.

...

Earlier this year Italy joined France, Spain and two other countries in calling on Brussels to strengthen trade defence tools to protect European industry from unfair competition.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10394465

...

Brussels has been examining ways to shield European industry from what many manufacturers say is the negative fallout from China’s industrial overcapacity and subsidised exports.

Stefania Pigozzi, head of economic studies at Italian machine tool industry association UCIMU, said Chinese manufacturers had largely satisfied domestic demand and are now rapidly expanding overseas.

UCIMU said it wants imported machinery to be subject to the same technical and safety standards required of European manufacturers in order to level the playing field.

"Europe needs common rules that apply to everyone," Pigozzi told Reuters. "Machinery safety standards, for example, have a direct impact on production costs and ultimately on the final price of a product."

For most Italian companies, meanwhile, moving production to China to compete against Chinese manufacturers on equal terms is not an option, she added.

UCIMU represents about 250 producers of machine tools, robots, automation systems and components with combined revenue of roughly €8 billion ($9.1 billion) and employing some 30,000 workers.

...

According to data compiled by UCIMU from national industry associations and Italy’s trade agency ICE, China’s share of global metalworking machine tool exports rose to 23% in 2025 from 8% in 2016, while Europe’s fell to 46% from 52% during the same period.

Italy, the world’s fourth-largest machine tool exporter, also lost ground over the period. Its share of global exports slipped to 7.8% in 2025 from 8.4% in 2016, while Italian exports to China plunged to €110 million from €316 million.

The concerns of Italian manufacturers echo a broader debate within the EU.

...

Earlier this year Italy joined France, Spain and two other countries in calling on Brussels to strengthen trade defence tools to protect European industry from unfair competition.

...

Archived

...

Brussels has been examining ways to shield European industry from what many manufacturers say is the negative fallout from China’s industrial overcapacity and subsidised exports.

Stefania Pigozzi, head of economic studies at Italian machine tool industry association UCIMU, said Chinese manufacturers had largely satisfied domestic demand and are now rapidly expanding overseas.

UCIMU said it wants imported machinery to be subject to the same technical and safety standards required of European manufacturers in order to level the playing field.

"Europe needs common rules that apply to everyone," Pigozzi told Reuters. "Machinery safety standards, for example, have a direct impact on production costs and ultimately on the final price of a product."

For most Italian companies, meanwhile, moving production to China to compete against Chinese manufacturers on equal terms is not an option, she added.

UCIMU represents about 250 producers of machine tools, robots, automation systems and components with combined revenue of roughly €8 billion ($9.1 billion) and employing some 30,000 workers.

...

According to data compiled by UCIMU from national industry associations and Italy’s trade agency ICE, China’s share of global metalworking machine tool exports rose to 23% in 2025 from 8% in 2016, while Europe’s fell to 46% from 52% during the same period.

Italy, the world’s fourth-largest machine tool exporter, also lost ground over the period. Its share of global exports slipped to 7.8% in 2025 from 8.4% in 2016, while Italian exports to China plunged to €110 million from €316 million.

The concerns of Italian manufacturers echo a broader debate within the EU.

...

Earlier this year Italy joined France, Spain and two other countries in calling on Brussels to strengthen trade defence tools to protect European industry from unfair competition.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10391341

For three years Europe has repeated the same phrase about China, de-risking, not decoupling, and for three years it has struggled to show what the phrase means in practice. In mid-2026 that is starting to change.

At the European Council on 19 June, heads of state handed the Commission a clear political mandate to strengthen the bloc’s defences against Chinese industrial overcapacity and other forms of what Brussels calls unfair competition. The debate ran for more than two hours, which in European summitry signals a genuine argument rather than a rubber stamp.

The numbers behind the frustration are stark. The EU’s trade deficit with China has swollen to roughly 360 billion euros a year, close to a billion euros every day. Behind that figure sits a pattern European manufacturers know well: heavily subsidised Chinese capacity in electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries and now chemicals, produced far in excess of Chinese demand and pushed onto world markets at prices domestic rivals cannot match.

...

Yet the [European] Commission is careful to keep the door open. De-risking was always meant to reduce exposure, not to sever a relationship worth hundreds of billions in two-way trade.

...

Beijing, for its part, reads every tariff as provocation and has warned of retaliation against European farm goods, spirits and luxury exports.

...

What has shifted in 2026 is not the slogan but the resolve behind it. Europe has stopped debating whether Chinese overcapacity is a problem and started arguing about how forcefully to answer it. For a bloc that prizes consensus and caution, that is a meaningful change of gear.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10391341

For three years Europe has repeated the same phrase about China, de-risking, not decoupling, and for three years it has struggled to show what the phrase means in practice. In mid-2026 that is starting to change.

At the European Council on 19 June, heads of state handed the Commission a clear political mandate to strengthen the bloc’s defences against Chinese industrial overcapacity and other forms of what Brussels calls unfair competition. The debate ran for more than two hours, which in European summitry signals a genuine argument rather than a rubber stamp.

The numbers behind the frustration are stark. The EU’s trade deficit with China has swollen to roughly 360 billion euros a year, close to a billion euros every day. Behind that figure sits a pattern European manufacturers know well: heavily subsidised Chinese capacity in electric vehicles, solar panels, batteries and now chemicals, produced far in excess of Chinese demand and pushed onto world markets at prices domestic rivals cannot match.

...

Yet the [European] Commission is careful to keep the door open. De-risking was always meant to reduce exposure, not to sever a relationship worth hundreds of billions in two-way trade.

...

Beijing, for its part, reads every tariff as provocation and has warned of retaliation against European farm goods, spirits and luxury exports.

...

What has shifted in 2026 is not the slogan but the resolve behind it. Europe has stopped debating whether Chinese overcapacity is a problem and started arguing about how forcefully to answer it. For a bloc that prizes consensus and caution, that is a meaningful change of gear.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10391285

The entire ifo Business Climate Report (pdf)

Business sentiment among companies in Germany has improved, according to the German cconomic research institute ifo. The ifo Business Climate Index rose to 86.6 points in July, up from 85.7 points in June , due to a significant improvement in expectations. However, companies were somewhat less satisfied with their current business performance. Despite the uncertain situation in the Persian Gulf, companies are less pessimistic.

In manufacturing, the index rose noticeably. Expectations, in particular, saw a significant boost. Assessments of the current situation were somewhat less favorable. Demand picked up, and material shortages eased.

In the service sector, the business climate improved. Service providers were less skeptical about the coming months. However, they assessed the current business situation as slightly worse. Sentiment among tour operators has picked up.

In trade, the indicator rose once again. Companies were somewhat more satisfied with their current business. Expectations were also less pessimistic. Retailers, in particular, were less concerned about their future performance.

In construction, the index picked up. Both assessments of the current situation and expectations improved. Fewer companies reported a lack of orders.

...