China Floods Zimbabwe Market With Substandard Solar Panels; Experts Worry

Solar panels for household use on sale in downtown Mutare, Zimbabwe, in a file photo. Andrew Mambondiyani for The Epoch Times

MUTARE, Zimbabwe—Chinese businesses are taking advantage of the rising demand for renewable sources of energy in Africa to dump substandard solar panels on the continent’s market, energy experts say.

In Zimbabwe, Nobert Mataruse, an engineer with the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), recently warned people to be cautious about substandard products.

“In recent months, we have witnessed an influx of solar products which are not appropriate,” said Mataruse, as cited by the government-owned newspaper The Herald.

Zimbabwe, like many countries in Africa, is facing an energy crisis, and the government is advocating for the wider use of solar energy. But many products entering the market are not meeting local standards.

Failing Products

A vast majority of the currently failing and defective solar panels can be traced back to Chinese manufacturing plants, Tawanda Chitiyo, an energy expert based in Zimbabwe, told The Epoch Times.

“The growth of the local market has resulted in high inflows of PV [photovoltaic] products in the country. That’s resulted in many substandard products finding their way into the market, with negative consequences for consumers,” said Chitiyo, who is also the director of Tawanda Energy.

Tawanda Energy operates in the energy, biofuel, petrochemical, and related industries, utilizing community-scale bio-refineries to produce diesel, natural gas, electricity, and bio-char from sewage sludge and waste plastic.

Tawanda Chitiyo, director of Tawanda Energy. Courtesy of Tawanda Chitiyo

Chitiyo said the lure of a bargain is strong, and saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars is an attractive proposition, especially when the quality deficits of lower-priced panels aren’t immediately apparent, making Africa a dumping ground for cheap and defective solar panels.

“Like all manufactured goods, solar panels and other solar energy system components degrade and gradually generate less electricity over time. But the rate of failure of Chinese solar panels is now a great concern. There are no industry-wide figures about defective solar panels; no one is sure how pervasive the problem is,” he said.

Counterfeit solar products in the marketplace are now a key challenge facing solar energy in the country, Chitiyo said.