Chinese technology giant Huawei has been expelled from SolarPower Europe (SPE), a prominent Brussels-based renewable energy lobby group, marking the first such expulsion in the association’s history. The decision follows an ongoing EU bribery investigation into the company.
The SPE, which represents more than 300 companies and is a key advocate for renewable energy in the EU capital, announced that its board had voted to expel Huawei on 28 April 2025. As a long-standing “sponsoring” member, Huawei had contributed €60,000 a year to the association.
The move follows the European Commission’s decision to restrict interaction with industry associations that include Huawei as a member. Given the SPE’s role in policy lobbying with the EU government, the association felt compelled to distance itself in order to maintain its influence. An SPE spokesman said the decision was made in the context of the European Commission’s stance on associations with Huawei membership.
On 29 April, the SPE published a report highlighting the need for a European “inverter security toolbox” to address potential grid security risks from Chinese manufacturers. While there is currently no EU legislation banning the sale of Huawei products in Europe, the exclusion from the SPE and the ongoing investigations are expected to affect the company’s market share, particularly in the inverter segment where it controls around a third of the market.
Chinese companies dominated the European PV market, supplying at least 95% of modules and 80% of inverters. By the end of 2023, Huawei and Sungrow alone had supplied more than 160GW of photovoltaic inverters to the region. In contrast, European manufacturers such as SMA are facing capacity constraints.
Energy industry association Eurelectric is also considering suspending Huawei at an upcoming board meeting in June, signalling the growing impact of the investigations on Huawei’s standing in the European energy industry. Huawei has yet to comment on the SPE expulsion, although it has previously denied any wrongdoing and reiterated its zero-tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption.
