China’s solar dominance will ‘push countries to adopt clean technologies’

European firms are struggling in the face of stiff competition from China’s giant solar industry. Swiss solar energy expert Christophe Ballif discusses the serious ongoing challenges – and opportunities – of China’s solar supremacy, and he explains why Switzerland’s niche sector still has a bright future. Christophe Baliff has devoted his career over the past 30 years to solar technology research and innovation. He directs both the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) Photovoltaics Laboratory, and the photovoltaics (PV) laboratory of the Swiss Centre for Electronic and Microtechnology (CSEM), both based in Neuchatel. SWI swissinfo.ch: The Swiss solar panel maker Meyer Burger is one of the few European solar panel manufacturers left after the market was saturated with cheaper Chinese imports. But last month it announced that its future looked uncertain after its biggest customer pulled out. What’s your view on the Meyer Burger crisis. Does the firm still have a future?