Chinese solar panels (modules) are rapidly encroaching on the domestic market. As the new government..

Chinese solar panels (modules) are rapidly encroaching on the domestic market. As the new government weighs on renewable energy, this trend is expected to accelerate further. If renewable energy is expanded without adequate measures to protect the domestic solar business, it is feared that it will threaten energy security.

According to data submitted by the Office of the People’s Power Cho Eun-hee from the Korea Customs Service on the 4th, imports of Chinese solar panels nearly doubled in four years from 76,161 tons in 2021 to 159,907 tons last year. By the first half of this year, 97,851 tons were imported, which has already exceeded 94,647 tons imported in 2023. Chinese imports account for 99.6% of total solar panel imports.

Imports of Chinese panels increased along with the government’s policy to expand renewable energy. As of last year, the share of renewable energy generation was 10.4%, the first double-digit. Solar facilities installed until last year amounted to 27.1 gigawatts (GW).

However, as renewable energy generation spreads, a paradoxical phenomenon is emerging in which domestic related companies are on the verge of dying. Woongjin Energy, once the only solar ingot and wafer producer in Korea, was decided to abolish bankruptcy by the court at the end of June. The abolition of bankruptcy was made on the judgment that it was difficult for Woongjin Energy to come up with an amount to repay its creditors.

Woongjin Energy had the capacity to produce 2,000 MW of ingots and wafers per year, but went bankrupt in 2022 after losing competitiveness to low-cost attacks by Chinese solar companies that used low electricity and low labor costs as weapons. Woongjin Energy’s Daedeok plant in Daejeon was sold to a biotech company in the region this year.

If the Chinese solar panel offensive continues, there are concerns that supply chain problems such as the “factor number crisis” could arise in the renewable energy industry in the future. This is because if Chinese solar companies that actually monopolize the market increase panel prices or become strategic assets while the domestic solar business ecosystem has already collapsed, they will be subordinated to China in terms of energy security.

Representative Cho said, “If we only push for the expansion of renewable energy without alternatives to Chinese-made parts, we will pose risks to the energy industry as a whole,” adding, “It is urgent to correct weak supply chains that are concentrated in China and increase the localization rate to lay the foundation for industrial independence.”