Here you can find Solar Panels and technological accessories related to Solar Energy: Click Here If you want to learn about Solar...
Here you can find Solar Panels and technological accessories related to Solar Energy: Click Here
If you want to learn about Solar Panels, to advise you before buying or to build your own Solar Panel: Click Here
When it comes to solar power, China is outpacing everyone. Last year it commissioned as much solar energy as the entire world did in 2022. “The driving that China has done for the clean energy economy actually has been really, really beneficial.” Not everyone sees it that way though. The U.S., the E.U. and other countries are desperate to protect their markets and stay competitive. They’re doling out subsidies, promising tax breaks and placing limits on tariff-free imports. So how did China become so unbeatable? And is that a bad thing? We’ll start in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany, where Swiss solar panel manufacturer Meyer Burger makes some of its products. The company is a leading manufacturer of solar cells and modules. It employs over a thousand people. But it’s having a bit of a crisis. Lately, it’s had to confront the challenges of manufacturing in Europe. Where energy and production costs have risen significantly. Making it difficult to turn a profit. The Chinese solar modules flooding the market are cheaper and in some cases, more efficient. A reality that has pushed several European manufacturers into bankruptcy. And yet, by the end of the year, a new Meyer Burger factory is slated to be up and running. But it won't be in this German town of roughly 40,000 people. It'll be in Colorado Springs, U-S-A. Where it can take advantage of incentives for green tech companies under the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act. Known as the IRA. Something we’ll delve into a little later. Meyer Burger CEO Gunter Erfurt has gone as far as threatening to shut down manufacturing in Germany if the government doesn’t provide incentives that are equivalent to those offered under the IRA. Putting 500 jobs at risk. Meyer Burger didn’t respond to our request for an interview, but Erfurt has made his position clear. So how did China get so far ahead? Well, in the early 2000s, the country was experiencing a severe shortage of one of the main raw materials needed to make solar panels. Polysilicon. It was buying it from other countries, at a very high price. So Beijing took action. Making polysilicon became a national priority. Local governments fast-tracked permission for the construction of new plants, and state-owned companies and banks poured money into the new facilities.12 And as a result, manufacturing capacity shot up. Here’s how much, according to Chinese outlet PVTime. One of many who tracked the growth. “China has been, in a sense, the perfect country to do this because the political system allows for the integration of consumption and production policies and it allows for long term thinking." Richard Black is the director of policy and strategy at global energy think tank Ember. “There are some countries in the world where this probably couldn't have happened because they don’t have those things at all.” Government policy and heaps of state funding acted as a powerful sharpening steel to the country’s competitive edge. China now controls 80 to 95 percent of the entire, global solar production supply chain. It’s tight grip on the supply chain has driven down prices and spurred innovation. But what’s the impact of China’s productivity on other countries? Let's go to Brazil as an example. Latin America’s biggest economy is leading the renewable energy boom taking place across the continent. Not only does the country get copious amounts of the sun’s rays, but it benefits from newly enacted laws that protect local manufacturers. President Lula da Silva’s administration scrubbed tax reductions on imported solar modules from China and raised import fees on assembled ones. Brazilian trade group ABSOLAR isn’t convinced this will work. “National companies do not have the ability to produce what we need. They don’t have the ability to supply what the local markets demand.” Ana Martinez says the measures might have a negative impact. “And that’s the bigger complication. Because we are now trying to tax something to foster the local industry, but the local industry is not able to supply everything that the national solar industry demands.” And while Brazil takes steps to project its domestic industry, it still relies on Chinese financing to help pave its path to green energy.19 Brazil isn’t the only country trying to reduce dependence on China. In the US, President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act has fueled solar investment and growth. These blue dots show the sites of future solar manufacturing facilities. There are more than 40 of them. For Meyer Burger, building a whole new plant in Colorado Springs gives it access to tax credits up to 1.4 billion dollars. As well as get state support and a hefty loan from the US Department of Energy. None of which it would get if expanded manufacturing in Germany. But companies planning to begin or expand operations in the US shouldn’t get too comfortable just yet. If Donald Trump wins a second presidential race, the solar subsidies could be in jeopardy. His advisors have said that if elected, Trump will look to cut much of Biden’s plan and loosen restrictions for fossil fuel producers again. Though at this point, there may not be much global buy-in. "It’s hard to see that working really, since especially as many other countries are also planning to increase their fossil fuel production at a time when global demand is going to shrink.” But how did Europe lose its way in the first place? “Germany’s role back in the early 2000s was extremely important. Germany created the first, real continuing big market for solar panels. Generous government subsidies in Germany and Italy helped drive down costs. By 2010, the EU had doubled growth in the solar sector from the previous year. But soon, solar equipment from China began to flow into the market, selling for less than what it cost to make its equivalent in Europe. “China was subsidizing heavily solar modules so they came up with dumping prices on the market and there was no control from the European side on it.” Claudia Kemfert is an economist and an energy expert. “The European solar producers, especially the German ones could not really compete with China.” European solar panel makers like Conenergy and SolarWorld struggled to stay afloat. As China took steps to increase its manufacturing power, Europe took steps to protect its market from cheaper, Chinese products. In 2013, the E.U. imposed limits on tariff-free goods coming from the country. But it was too little, too late. “In Germany we lost over 100,000 jobs in the solar sector because of this heavy subsidizing of solar modules in China and we had a huge debate the energy transition is costly and should we do it or not and all this came to this situation that we were not the solar market leaders anymore.” But is it so bad if China dominates the market? Today, solar powered energy is the cheapest form of electricity for the majority of countries that use it. And that’s thanks to China’s output. And the price of installation keeps dropping. Estimates put the cost somewhere between 300 and 900 dollars per kilowatt by 2030. Though it’s not all positive. Japanese electronics giant Panasonic shut down production at its solar panel factories at home and in Malaysia a few years ago ... choosing to outsource it to a subcontractor instead. The U.S. arm of South Korea’s LG shut down its plant in Huntsville, Alabama in 2022. Citing higher costs for materials and logistics. Along with severe supply issues. Remember Meyer Burger from the beginning of this video? They want to stay in the game, but it’s too expensive in Europe. “We should not be too dependent on imports of solar modules and produce our own solar modules in Europe and Germany as well and keep the jobs also here and there is a market advantage if we would do so and not leave the whole market dominance to one nation, which is China.” So how did China become the global leader in solar energy production? By trying to solve a domestic problem. And then throwing state-funding and its formidable manufacturing weight behind it. And is it bad? It helped drive global investment and renew the commitment to solar power. Thanks in large part to this burgeoning economy, China and a majority of EU-bloc countries will hit their renewable energy targets for 2030 ahead of time. In the race for more solar energy capacity, Europe is ahead one decade, China is winning the next. Latin America and the U.S. throw their hats into the ring. But it’s consumers and clean energy advocates that emerge victorious. “If your government is in favor of international trade, and most European governments are in favor of international trade in principle, then you can't really complain when companies in another country start producing something that you want. And they’re producing it really cheaply and exporting it to you. That’s just part of life.” ...
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