China's Solar Industry Rises To Lead The Way

                                                Blue solar photovoltaic panels cover a hillside in Yuncheng city, Shanxi province, Jan. 22, 2024/IC Photo

China's solar industry saw a major explosion in 2023, installing more solar panels in one year than the United States has ever done combined. In addition, China has cut the wholesale price of solar panels by nearly half, and its exports of finished solar panels have increased by 38 percent, with exports of key components nearly doubling.

Annual solar panel installations around the world have nearly quadrupled since 2018. "We wouldn't be seeing so many solar installations around the world if Chinese manufacturers hadn't reduced the cost of panels by more than 95 percent." said Tu Jianjun, a Beijing-based researcher at Columbia University's Center for Global Energy Policy.

China produces almost all of the world's equipment used to make solar panels and supplies almost all of the components needed for solar panels, from wafers to specialty glass.

The article argues that increased investment in renewable energy - particularly solar energy - is an important part of China's big bet on emerging technologies, which it hopes to use to boost economic growth in new industries such as solar. The focus on solar energy is also the latest step in a two-decade-long program to reduce China's dependence on energy imports.

In the face of competition from Chinese solar products, the Biden administration has launched a subsidy program in an attempt to lower the cost of producing and installing solar panels in the country. Nevertheless, the cost advantage of Chinese products is still difficult to deal with. The European Commission, a research organization in January this year, the assessment shows that Chinese companies can produce solar panels at a cost of 16 to 18.9 cents per watt of power generation. This compares with costs of 24.3 to 30 cents per watt for European companies and about 28 cents for U.S. companies.

This is particularly true for the cost of electricity, which is expensive in Europe, especially after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict led to Europe no longer buying natural gas from Russia. Land for building PV power plants in Europe is also more expensive.