After consecutive setbacks in wind and photovoltaic projects, Lithuania is considering negotiations with China, giving Chinese companies a chance!
Recently, the Baltic News Agency disclosed a funny piece of news: President Nausėda of Lithuania is re-evaluating whether to continue listing China as a so-called "high-risk country" on its list. The reason? Simply put — after excluding Chinese enterprises from the supply chain, Lithuania's new energy projects have almost come to a standstill.
Between 2021 and 2022, Lithuania turned its back on China comprehensively, imposing restrictions on Chinese entities in areas such as energy and communications, attempting to replace them with European or local suppliers, especially in critical infrastructure sectors.
However, this strategy quickly ran into trouble on the two main fronts of green energy — wind power and photovoltaics.
Take wind power as an example. Lithuania plans to increase the share of renewable energy to over 45% by 2030, with wind power as the main driver. However, core components of wind turbines — such as converters, gearboxes, towers, and control systems — are heavily dependent on the Chinese supply chain worldwide.
Moreover, Chinese enterprises have significant advantages in cost, delivery cycle, and technical compatibility. Once cooperation is cut off, Lithuania has neither the production capacity nor the technological reserves. Meanwhile, European suppliers either quote prices more than 30% higher, or their delivery schedules are pushed out to two years later.
More importantly, the EU as a whole has not banned Chinese new energy equipment. Countries such as Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands are still purchasing large quantities of Chinese photovoltaic modules and wind turbine parts.
Lithuania's unilateral restrictions have instead caused it to fall behind in the regional energy transition competition. The cost of this "self-imposed isolation" is now being manifested through project stagnation, rising electricity prices, and failure to meet emission reduction targets.
Faced with practical pressure, Nausėda has begun to soften his stance. Although no official policy adjustment has been announced yet, there are signs that Lithuania is considering resuming contact with China and even declaring that it will give China a chance, hoping that China can resume cooperation while respecting Lithuania's position. What else can Da Ge say? Go somewhere cooler and stay there.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1851082764508426/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author only.