With Frequent Production Stoppages, Pay Cuts and Layoffs, can Demand for Optical Storage in Europe Be Saved Against the Trend?

the Spring Festival, it should be a busy time to resume work, but many photovoltaic people are forced to press the "rest button".

Recently, a picture of an "economic layoff notice" has been circulated in the photovoltaic industry. According to the picture information display, A photovoltaic enterprise in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province laid off employees economically due to major difficulties in production and operation (for details, please click:

picture was only 2518 in the 12 months before the layoff.

However, the author believes that the most reliable statement is that the employee should be in a " long-term vacation " state before being dismissed.

In the current photovoltaic downward cycle, pay cuts, production stoppages, layoffs and bankruptcies are common.

Digital New Energy DataBM. After evaluation, the company expects that there is almost no possibility of resumption of work in the next two to three years. Finally, the company conveyed to the employees the intention to negotiate the termination of the labor contract.

At the same time, a photovoltaic enterprise in Henan announced that it would stop production and take a holiday from February 11, 2026, and the specific time for resumption of work would be notified separately . During the holidays, enterprises will pay 90% of the minimum wage standard of 2350 yuan in Henan Province, and the social security paid by individuals will be withheld by the company according to the regulations.

is very difficult

. On the one hand, many enterprises are deeply involved in wage cuts, layoffs, The plight of the industry into the depth of shock adjustment stage; however, in sharp contrast to the photovoltaic market seems to have a little "warmer" signs. In terms of

production scheduling, according to previous research by the Digital New Energy DataBM. Com, in March , from the perspective of the price of photovoltaic modules, according to the survey of the Digital New Energy DataBM. Com." The current component price is above 0.75 yuan/W; In terms of centralized procurement, during the period from February 21 to March 6, the average bidding unit price of enterprises was 0.852 yuan/W , an increase of 14.

But in fact, the above phenomenon is not caused by demand-oriented. Instead, the export tax rebate policy and " have now reached the beginning of March, and the overseas "hoarding tide" has gradually come to an end; Silver paste prices remain high and volatile, and with the emergence of conflicts in the Middle East, what will the photovoltaic industry face next? According to com, from January to February 2026, the domestic photovoltaic scalar quantity was 2.9 GW and 4.6 GW, respectively . Decreased by 64.63% and 73.10% compared with the same period last year (Note: from January to February 2025, the domestic PV scaling volume was 8.2GW and 17.

The total amount of bidding projects for PV modules released by major enterprises is only 0.

This means that the demand for PV installation and shipment in the second quarter is also pitifully small.

In addition, due to the impact of electricity price and installation cost, the budget of some power station projects has increased significantly, the installation market has a strong wait-and-see atmosphere, and the installation process is still lagging behind.

According to the forecast of China Photovoltaic Industry Association, the new installed capacity of photovoltaic in China is expected to be 180-240 GW in 2026. Next, if there is no new policy stimulus, the domestic new installed capacity space will be significantly narrowed, and the marginal value of enterprises competing for market share will decline.

However, industry insiders believe that although the overseas "hoarding tide" has reversed the situation of weak supply and demand in the photovoltaic industry in the short term, there is also a risk of overdraft demand in the second quarter.

Needless to say, influenced by trade barriers, reciprocal tariffs, the Great American Act and other policies, Chinese photovoltaic enterprises in the United States have long been struggling to choose a strategic contraction strategy.

Emerging markets have also been given high hopes.Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects new PV installations in the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa to grow from 27 GW in 2025 to 30 GW in 2026 . At the same time, photovoltaic demand in emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region, such as India and Southeast Asia, is also growing.

Wood Mackenzie points out in several of its market outlook reports that new solar installations in the next decade will come mainly from emerging economies with rapidly growing electricity demand.

However, the outbreak of the Middle East war has brought uncertainty to the short-term development of photovoltaic in emerging markets, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. In

this regard, Zhong Baoshen, chairman of Longji Green Energy, said in an interview with the media that short-term conflicts would disturb the photovoltaic market, but in the long run, the basic impact was not significant, and the development of photovoltaic was just needed by many countries in the Middle East. If the subsequent situation stabilizes, photovoltaic demand may also increase further.

is affected by the weak economy, Photovoltaic subsidies may decline, some countries also have absorption problems, Guotai Junan Securities had previously predicted that the growth rate of photovoltaic installed capacity in the European market will decline in 2026.

However, affected by the escalation of the current Middle East conflict, the prices of natural gas and oil, the traditional energy sources in Europe, have soared again. Following the war between Russia and Ukraine, the region has once again encountered a severe energy crisis.

In this context, the demand for photovoltaic and energy storage in Europe has been ignited again. According to industry sources, the current European optical storage market is booming, "quotations can not be reported.".

It is reported that European dealers said that in early March, the number of orders for photovoltaic storage in Europe increased sharply, and some models of household energy storage inverters and photovoltaic modules were out of stock, and even there was a situation of "too late to quote, customers directly lock the bill in full".

But according to some manufacturers to the digital new energy DataBM. Domestic manufacturers to get new orders, I am afraid it will take some time.

Postscript

Overall, the soaring price of traditional fossil energy brought about by geopolitical conflicts has stimulated the global demand for new energy to rebound in the short term; while in the long run, the transformation of green energy is still the definite direction of global energy structure adjustment, with unlimited market demand potential.

However, it is worth noting that the trend of localization of the global new energy industry chain is constantly strengthening, and the policy and industrial environment faced by Chinese photovoltaic enterprises in overseas markets is becoming more and more complex. Under the new competition pattern, how to achieve a deeper and more resilient global layout will become an important issue that Chinese photovoltaic enterprises must face.