European solar companies say that local content rules in the EU’s proposal to boost the bloc’s renewables manufacturing will make the transition to clean energy more difficult because of limits on Chinese imports.The European Commission’s proposed Net Zero Industry Act, which was announced on Thursday, obliges governments to mark down public tenders for renewables projects if companies source from a single country that accounts for a more than 65 per cent of the EU market share for the product. The same rules would apply to products that are offered with a consumer subsidy to encourage uptake.

This would disadvantage solar companies, which the act deems as having “insufficiently diversified” supply. China has a more than 80 per cent share of the European market across the industry supply chain.

Last year, the EU achieved a record installation of more than 40GW of solar panels after a push to replace Russian gas. That was made possible by more than doubling annual European imports of solar panels from China, according to the commission.