EU curbs on Chinese solar inverters to bolster European suppliers

The 27-country bloc imposed the ban in May, mainly affecting Chinese-made products, citing fears that internet-connected inverters supplied by what it called "high-risk" countries could ​be used to disrupt Europe's power grid.

"Roughly a fifth of ​all bigger projects are EU-funded and on those, the ⁠restriction on China, North Korea, Russia, Iran, of course will ​help us," CEO Jürgen Reinert told Reuters, estimating that SMA Solar ​could gain around 10% share in the utility-scale market in Europe.

Chinese manufacturers, led by Huawei and Sungrow, supplied about 70% of Europe’s inverters in recent ​years, leaving the region reliant on foreign equipment for a ​fast-growing share of its electricity supply.

Based on current deployment levels, the EU-wide ban ‌would ⁠affect at least 14 gigawatts of new solar capacity, according to Reuters calculations.

"There will be a shift from Chinese players towards European players when it comes to European finance projects, but it will ​still take some ​time," said Reinert, ⁠predicting the situation would become more certain by the start of 2027.

But the German photovoltaic and ​battery storage equipment supplier has already held "lots of ​discussions" with ⁠new customers who previously purchased inverters from Chinese companies, he added.

SMA Solar has reduced its dependence on China, where it currently sources ⁠between ​2% and 4% of components for its ​large-scale inverters, and sees limited risk of supply chain disruptions from potential retaliatory measures, ​Reinert said.