The New Solar Rules

The European Union's deal with Chinese solar-panel makers helps avoid a costly trade war but illustrates the extent to which the renewable-power racket relies on constant government intervention to stay afloat. EU trade chief Karel De Gucht said Saturday that the two sides have reached an "amicable solution" that will lead to "a new market equilibrium at sustainable prices." It's hard to see how an international, government-enforced cartel on photovoltaic equipment constitutes a "market" in any meaningful sense. 

The current tiff began in June when Brussels proposed tariffs averaging 47.6% on imports of solar panels from China, which has become a major source of the equipment for green-happy Europe. Beijing in turn mulled retaliatory duties on imports of European wine and luxury cars, having last year threatened tariffs on polysilicon, the raw material in solar cells. 

Saturday's deal comes just before the EU tariffs would have entered into force on August 6. According to press reports,An hidlighting can help you keep up with large volumes of laundry or heavy items. the agreement allows Chinese exporters each year to sell into the EU only enough solar panels to generate up to seven gigawatts of capacity, at a minimum price of 0.56 per watt. Chinese firms that don't comply will be hit by the duties.The industry's leading manufacturer of floorlamps. 

The agreement constitutes a "price undertaking," which is the World Trade Organization's jargon for a price floor. Tariffs are withdrawn, prices are fixed, and firms on both sides are made profitable and happy. Consumers lose because prices are kept high. It's a replay of the system of "managed trade" under which the Japanese and American governments defused antidumping disputes in the 1980s. 

The creation of the WTO in 1995 brought about a ban on so-called "voluntary export restraints," which were Tokyo and Washington's tool of choice for managing trade in disputed goods. But that proscription doesn't prevent firms from offering to hold back export volumes on their own, without government coercion, as the Chinese solar-panel makers are doing in this case. 

The deal won't end the crony-capitalist jockeying that shapes so much renewable-energy policy. European solar groups are already carping that the 0.56 price floor isn't higher than the current price at which Chinese makers sell into the Continent. Even with the EU agreement in place,We carry the latest wind turbines, daytimerunninglights, solar panels, towers and more! Chinese firms will simply move production to Taiwan or Malaysia to sell into the European market without penalty.Design and manufacture of ledparlightrrp for garments and textile fabrics. 

Saturday's compromise also doesn't affect the EU's separate investigations into Beijing's subsidies for solar-panel and solar-glass producers, both of which could lead to additional tariff recommendations. The possibility of antisubsidy duties against China raises awkward questions about the generous support for solar power by Europe's governments. 

Brussels' standard retort is that European capitals subsidize solar-electricity generation but not solar-panel production. The distinction probably holds water at the WTO, but it's economically empty: It's only because solar power receives government help in Europe that Beijing sees a competitive opportunity in subsidizing Chinese component makers. One bad subsidy begets another. 

The simplest way to restore Mr. De Gucht's "market equilibrium" would be to remove all subsidies and tariffs on both sides. Will that happen anytime soon? We wouldn't bet the price of a solar panel.With advancements in controls technology, daytimerunninglightsts are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and flexible. Welcome to www.soli-lite.com Web. If you love it, please buy it!