On a piece of land in northern Serbia, the development of one of Europe’s largest wind farms is a sign of the region’s efforts to meet its clean energy goals, but the decision to hire a Chinese company to supply the turbines has raised concerns among domestic rivals.

Some fear that the decision by Italian solar group Fintel Energia to select Zhejiang Windey to supply turbines for the Maestrale Ring wind farm is part of a growing trend that could lead to a repeat of the problems in the European solar industry, where Chinese companies have undercut the prices of domestic companies and driven many of them into bankruptcy.

Although Chinese manufacturers only account for a fraction of the €57.2 billion European wind energy market, Brussels has launched an investigation into whether Chinese companies are using unfair state subsidies to drive down prices and thus gain a competitive advantage.

In April, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager accused China of applying the same “strategies” across the clean technology sector that it has used to dominate the solar panel industry – including high subsidies.

Pierre Tardieu, policy director of the trade group WindEurope, which represents 550 renewable energy companies in the region, fears a “tipping point” where Chinese companies dominate the European turbine market. Currently, the Danish company Vestas and the German company Siemens Gamesa lead the market.

“We firmly believe that this would be very, very bad news for the European wind market and the European economy in general,” he added.

WindEurope, whose members include the region’s major turbine manufacturers, claims Chinese manufacturers offer prices 40 to 50 percent lower than European competitors and grant developers payment deferrals. The network argues that these prices would not be possible without unfair public subsidies.

Last month, German asset manager Luxcara selected Mingyang, China’s fourth-largest wind turbine manufacturer by market share in 2023, as its preferred turbine supplier for an offshore wind project.

Holger Matthiesen, project manager at Luxcara, said the models were “the most powerful in the world” and the deal would help the company “drive the energy transition in Germany”.

The Swedish cleantech group Hexicon in the UK has also selected Mingyang as its preferred supplier for its planned floating offshore wind project.

Other company bosses admit that cheaper prices could encourage them to switch to Chinese suppliers.

“We don’t have Chinese turbines, but if prices stay at this level, I think more companies will use them,” said Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, chief executive of Portuguese wind power developer EDP, which is 21 percent owned by China’s Three Gorges Power Corporation. “We will also consider them if they are more competitive.”

Ignacio Galán, chief executive of Spanish energy utility Iberdrola, added that his company tends to focus on local suppliers, but if Chinese manufacturers “produced reliable and competitive turbines, we would be willing to consider them as potential suppliers.”

In addition, analysts at Aegir Insights say a planned 250-megawatt floating offshore wind farm off the coast of Brittany in France may not be feasible without cheaper turbines, likely to be manufactured in China or outside Europe.

However, the Chinese still have a long way to go to catch up with their European competitors. The leading turbine manufacturers Goldwind and Windey only had a market share of one percent in Europe last year, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

Mads Nipper, chief executive of Danish wind and solar park developer Ørsted, played down concerns that China could pose a threat to domestic turbine makers when he told the Financial Times earlier this year that they were unlikely to gain significant market share in Western Europe.

The China Chamber of Commerce in the EU (CCCEU) stressed that “technological competition and intense competition, not state subsidies, drive the competitiveness of Chinese companies.” It added that the EU’s investigation into Chinese subsidies had sparked “deep dissatisfaction and concern.”

Chinese economic expert Zhejiang Windey supported the chamber on the grounds that there were no “unfair and implicit state subsidies”.

It continued: “We also demand a fair, open and transparent wind market that is not manipulated by a single party. We simply want to use our experience and technology to contribute to the global energy transition.”

The GWEC, whose members include Chinese companies such as Zhejiang Windey and Mingyang, agreed that maintaining “fair and transparent trade practices” was important in light of measures taken by the EU to protect clean technology jobs from exports from Beijing.

The measures, which include the EU’s subsidy investigation, have fuelled concerns that the region could miss its carbon emissions targets without Chinese technology. The EU has set strict climate targets that it estimates could cost €1.5 trillion a year in investments.

“If we pursue a reshoring agenda in Europe with import substitution and domestic production targets, we risk (…) a slowdown in the energy transition in Europe, as everything would become a little more expensive,” says Simone Tagliapietra, senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank.

“Instead of fighting gravity and beating the Chinese or trying to compete with them on the basis of the economies of scale they achieve, we would be better off focusing on an innovation-driven industrial policy.”

GWEC chairman Jonathan Cole, speaking in his capacity as CEO of global wind developer Corio Generation, agreed. Excluding Chinese companies from the global supply chain would “significantly undermine” the ability to meet decarbonisation targets, he said.

“A positive tax policy that stimulates the growth of local supply chains will help us achieve our goals more than a policy aimed at deterring or excluding foreign suppliers,” he added.

Some European politicians also warn against too many barriers for Chinese companies. “We want cheap and fast domestic production. We can only have two of these three things. We should make a tactical decision,” said a senior EU diplomat.

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