It’s hard to argue that China is not making some definite progress in solar energy. China is the world’s leading solar cell and component manufacturer and has been in a head-to-head race with the United States to overtake Germany as the world’s leading solar market.

Himin Solar Energy Group Power Plant. Photo Credit: TradeVV

Any American shopper knows that China is a hub for manufacturing of all kinds, and solar power panels are no different. Low US import tariffs and low labor costs have facilitated a massive emigration of American companies to Chinese labor markets. Major US players in solar electricity, including First Solar and SunPower, have manufacturing plants in China.

Manufacturing as Progress?

But does domination in solar manufacturing necessarily dictate progress in solar energy? Arguably yes and no. The yes side is simple – the solar industry wouldn’t be what it is today without China’s manufacturing prowess, not to mention their preexisting capacity for producing solar-grade polysilicon. However, even solar manufacturing plants can pollute, as China has unfortunately illustrated, and just because you manufacture solar equipment doesn’t mean you use it. China doesn’t even appear on a SolarBuzz chart of PV market demand in 2008. (more…)

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A ruling by the New York U.S. Customs Office seems to have shaken up the solar industry. The NY office deemed that because of a type of bypass diode, which allows energy to flow around cells that are shaded, the Chinese-manufactured PV panel technically classifies as a generator and is subject to an import tariff.

The solar industry has prepared itself to oppose this ruling, ultimately willing to take it to the U.S. Court of International Trade if the industry’s attempts at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection headquarters in Washington fail.  The current ruling is baffling because the bypass diodes are necessary safety functions and have always been on PV panels.

So why is this scary for the industry?  If the tariff is imposed, it may prompt other countries to do the same to protect their own domestic solar industries, thereby making it much harder for U.S.-based companies to compete in the global solar manufacturing market.

For U.S. solar panel importers, things could get scarier a lot sooner.  “In the worst case scenario, U.S. importers of solar panels could face some $70 million in tariffs and penalties for product already imported this year.”  In a growing market, this may be a back breaker for companies just molting their baby feathers. (more…)

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China is now world leader in greenhouse gas emissions. Yet it’s also the world leader in clean-tech manufacturing, including the production of solar panels.  So we end up with a country boasting its bold leadership in the renewable energy industry, while simultaneously polluting more than any other country on Earth. This is the Chinese contradiction.

China's GHG emissions could double in the coming decade

It is an issue for which the Chinese government is taking a lot of heat. And rightly so. In 2007, a World Bank report found that pollution-related diseases kill 750,000 people every year in China. Of course, the Chinese leadership muscled the World Bank into censoring the report for fear of social unrest at home, where rivers are turning soupy and red with mining waste and other metals, where droughts are growing severe because smog won’t allow rain to fall and where, when it does rain, the water falls laden with sulphur dioxide (acid rain).

Under international heat over the last few years, China has come around a bit on climate change. They are already a world leader in renewable energy equipment production and now plan to increase domestic renewable energy production to 15% of its total energy consumption by 2020. New plans to curb GHG emissions have also been announced.

In China, the environmental goals are there. It’s how they’ll actually do it that remains uncertain. (more…)

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