Europe has kicked off 2024 with many words, and some action, on the topic of protecting its solar industry from China. The action is a $3.15 billion aid plan in France, approved by the EU, to support the country’s renewable manufacturing. This spend is split across solar, battery energy storage, wind turbines, and heat pumps, through 2025, and is approved under the EU’s Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, which permits member states to design incentive structures to expedite the energy transition, including grants, loans, guarantees, and tax incentives for development and manufacturing. A second similar approval was recently granted for $979 million in German state aid for Northvolt’s planned battery facility in Schleswig-Holstein. France has long been the site of…