The European Union (EU) is reportedly set to impose tariffs on steel wind turbine towers imported from China following an inquiry that found the towers were being sold at ‘artificially low’ prices.

Reuters reported that the European Commission (EC), which carried out the investigation, will impose duties of between 7.2% and 19.2%.

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The commission plans to impose a duty of 14.4% on a subsidiary of Chinese wind energy firm Titan Wind Energy Suzhou.

The EC took up the investigation after the European Wind Tower Association lodged a complaint.

In its investigation, the commission studied production costs in Mexico to determine a ‘normal’ price for a wind tower and identified that the Chinese prices were much lower.

The commission will impose anti-dumping duties for a period of five years and are intended to serve as a ‘remedy’ for damage caused to EU producers, such as those in Denmark and Spain.

The EC also said that it found 80% of all steel towers imported from China into the EU had increased their market share within the EU to 34% in the 12 months to last July, as against 25% in 2017.

These towers were sold in a price-sensitive market at a discount.

In August, the EC approved a €5.7bn ($6.7bn) French aid scheme for renewable power generation from small solar installations located on buildings.

The scheme was approved under EU state aid rules to help France install almost 3.7GW of additional solar energy capacity.

It is intended to help the country achieve its 2030 target of generating 33% of its required energy from renewable sources.

The approval came a month after the EC authorised a separate scheme put forward by France to support the production of electricity from renewable energy sources.

The programme aims to help France meet its renewable energy targets without distorting competition.