China Benefits as U.S. Solar Industry Withers

[xchrom]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/02/business/global/us-solar-company-bankruptcies-a-boon-for-china.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

HONG KONG — The bankruptcies of three American solar power companies in the last month, including Solyndra of California on Wednesday, have left China’s industry with a dominant sales position — almost three-fifths of the world’s production capacity — and rapidly declining costs.

Some American, Japanese and European solar companies still have a technological edge over Chinese rivals, but seldom a cost advantage, according to industry analysts.

Loans at very low rates from state-owned banks in Beijing, cheap or free land from local and provincial governments across China, huge economies of scale and other cost advantages have transformed China from a minor player in the solar power industry just a few years ago into the main producer of an increasingly competitive source of electricity.

“The top-tier Chinese firms are kind of the benchmark now,” said Shayle Kann, a managing director of solar power studies at GTM Research, a renewable energy market analysis firm based in Boston. Pricing of solar equipment is determined by the Chinese industry, he said, “and everyone else prices at a premium or discount to them.”

[Harmony Blue]

1. The Chinese have an eye for long term investment

unlike short term maximum profit Capitalists in the U.S.

[dkf]

6. And what is your solution to the short term capitalistic view of the US?

Should the US heavily subsidize our solar industry or give them huge tax breaks and even tax credits?

Or are you saying shareholders should keep pouring money into a bleeding venture?

[amborin]

2. sad that the US is not taking the lead in this and other green industries

[Harmony Blue]

3. We have been abandoned

it sure seems that way. The Green movement has made a lot of progress outside the U.S. but it feels like we are taking major steps back. :(

[WDIM]

4. Tariffs, Tariffs, Tariffs.

This is a great example of the need for Tariffs!

We need solar panels on every home and every business in America!
They should all be American made!

[Blue_Tires]

5. that's what happens when you get in the game late

the U.S. should have been refining this technology a decade earlier at the minimum...But the anti-science and green haters in industry and government were setting this up to fail from the start...

Hell, even the biggest U.S. solar company still makes most of their stuff in Malaysia...Who does that help??

[Uncle Joe]

7. Our policies re: supporting renewable, sustainable energy sources here at home seem at odds

with any "looking forward" pronouncements, whether those pronouncements were all encompassing or not.

At least the Chinese are "looking forward."

Thanks for the thread, xchrom.

[xchrom]

10. sure thing. nt

[Fumesucker]

8. That vision thing?

They haz it.

[Uncle Joe]

11. I like that pic, Fumesucker.

:) :thumbsup:

[amborin]

9. Solyndra: sagging demand, competition & unique manufacturing designs that were $$$ to manufacture