As Europe is accelerating its greentransformation, the Spanish and Portuguese photovoltaic industry insiders saidrecently that they are optimistic about the prospects of cooperation withChinese companies in the field of solar power generation.

The Francisco Pizaro solar power plant,located in the autonomous region of Extremadura in southwestern Spain, is thelargest photovoltaic plant in Europe, built and operated by Spanish powercompany Iveldroora and opened last summer. During a recent visit to the powerplant, I learned that all the solar panels it uses are from China.

The company Extremadura area renewableenergy development commissioner Jose Berliot told reporters at the scene,Francisco Pisaro solar power plant installed capacity of about 590 megawatts,composed of 1.5 million solar panels, 13,700 trackers and 313 inverters, toprovide green and clean energy for 334,000 households.

Berliot said that the Chinese-made photovoltaicpanels had no problems after they were put into operation. "The Chinesephotovoltaic products properly met our needs."

Spain is the second-largest solar powermarket in Europe. According to a report released by the European Solar EnergyIndustry Association at the end of last year, Spain's total installedphotovoltaic capacity is expected to reach 26.4 gigawatts by the end of 2022,adding 7.5 gigawatts last year alone. Data show that the EU added 41.1gigawatts of new photovoltaic capacity in 2022, an increase of 47% over 2021.

Jose Donoso Alonso, secretary-general ofthe Spanish Photovoltaic Association, told reporters that the quality and costadvantages of Chinese photovoltaic products are obvious to all. At present,Spain imports mainly inverters and photovoltaic panels from China, and theseproducts are very competitive.

Portugal is also a big importer of Chinesephotovoltaic products. Pedro Amaral George, CEO of the Portuguese RenewableEnergy Association, told reporters that Chinese-made photovoltaic panelsaccount for about 85 percent of the market share in Portugal, with the highestquality certification and being recognized by power companies and financinginstitutions.

Alonso said Spain plans to reach 30gigawatts of total installed photovoltaic capacity by 2030, but the target wasexpected to rise to 55 GW to 65 GW given the interest of investors anddevelopments in the industry. George said Portugal plans to reach 9 gigawattsof total installed photovoltaic capacity by 2030, but the government couldraise the target to 18 GW to 20 gigawatts.

Alonso believes that the cooperationbetween Spain and China is crucial to promoting the development of the globalphotovoltaic industry, and Spain's large-scale development of the photovoltaicindustry will also help China to explore the European market.

George said Portugal must strengthencooperation with China to reach 20 gigawatts, and expects Chinese companies tomake more construction and investment in the European photovoltaic industry.