A Green Degree Blog: New Angles On Sustainability

May 19th 2012

Is The US Handling A Double-Edged Sword With Their Hefty Import Tariffs On Chinese Solar?

So the other day I posted a blog surrounding this whole mess we’re calling the ‘solar trade war’, of which the US and China are the key players, and of which I finished by saying would benefit nobody and, if anything, seriously hurt the solar industry at a crucial (this can’t be understated) moment in its growth.

At this point in time, solar as a form of energy, a very nice one at that, is rapidly approaching grid parity with fossil fuels, and in many instances is able to compete on par for energy prices to both consumer and producer, with the big coal and oil lobbies. That is one impressive feat considering relatively little government subsidies have been involved (that’s relative to fossil fuels) and massive growth has occurred in just 5-10 years, not decades.

However, this lack of comparative funding and phenomenal growth clearly doesn’t sit very well with the US and the Department of Commerce, who severely oppose the Chinese solar market and it’s doings, which have undeniably been a key driving force in this event.

Very briefly, the Chinese government has been found ‘illegally’ subsidising their solar industry and key companies, such as SunTech, by selling them for below-market prices, effectively flooding the global solar market with cheap panels. The US has branded this anticompetitive and blamed it for the crash in US-solar sales and Solyndra’s collapse, responding by slapping a small, but nonetheless important 2-4% trade import tariff on Chinese solar. That was then.

Now it seems they’ve upped the ante, with the Department of Commerce raising tariffs to 31% for the major Chinese solar companies, and as high as 250% (!!) on smaller firms, effectively forcing the Chinese to raise their prices to meet ‘market’ levels, i.e. the US’, despite their ability to produce at such cheap and effective prices. I find this to be sheer madness (some may say blatant protectionism) by the Department, who could easily be accused of crippling the solar industry at a time when just one more nudge in the right way could lead to an explosion in sunlight-derived energy.

It may be true that the Chinese have been unfairly aiding their solar markets, but the fact of the matter is this; the US is doing exactly the same, and as I say in my earlier post, SolarWorld reaps rewards far beyond those of SunTech, and yet we leave them alone entirely. Not only this, but why should cheap solar panels, in abundance around the world, which are no doubt forcing prices down hugely and cleaning up the atmosphere, be subject to these crazy tariffs just because the US feels its own domestic manufacturers are at risk?

Posted at 12:07pm and tagged with: solar, china, trade war, US, america, energy, technology, tariffs, suntech, solarworld, fossil fuels, solar panels, market, economy, canada, mexico, commerce,.

May 7th 2012

Now More Than Ever, Solar Teeters At The Point Of No Return

The solar industry is on the brink of something special if we are to believe data from a recent Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) study, in which they state that solar has come further than other energy source, in much less time, with relatively little help from the government and is exploding in popularity.

As you can see from the graph above, solar is still in its infancy, sitting alone in the ‘early adopters’ stage, although you must remember that some renewables, such as bio-related fuels are not included, whilst the majority of other forms of generation are well past the early/late stages. Alongside this, the amount of federal spending is plotted on the y axis as a way of showing us how much each form has been propped up by the subsidy programs, for the good or bad.

Its plainly obvious that solar has received very little extra cash to help it along, a theme well-known by those who follow the industry. Despite this shortfall in subsidies, and the unfortunate bankruptcies of some large and heavily funded companies such as Solyndra (twisted by the media to overplay the role government support had in their demise), solar is still ploughing on ahead, always looking forward.

430,000 jobs are expected to be created if solar gets to full power within the next decade, growing at a rate which would put all the golden oldies, oil, coal, nuclear and gas to shame - no mean feat. With this much support and popularity, subsidies would be increasingly refocused on the solar explosion, and before you know it, every factory, house, block of flats and supermarket will be able to cheaply and easily afford a solar panel or ten of their roofs.

Unfortunately, many governments, the US most importantly, have decided to continue subsidising sectors such as the dying coal industry, despite the large drops in coal use and support domestically, and a strong call for mobilisation into the natural gas industry. Even nuclear continues to receive backing, and here I’m talking about the insanely expensive, relatively unsafe and insecure, decade-long old generation reactors. This is especially surprising, as given poor public support and a terrible track record in keeping to budgets and timescales, many see it as effectively throwing money into the uranium pits. If this money as perhaps redirected into new Gen IV reactors, or Small Modular Reactors (SMR) the nuclear industry could be revived, but these areas are seeing slow uptake.

Posted at 1:35pm and tagged with: solar, energy, climate, science, technology, solar panels, sun, electricity, coal, gas, oil, US, adoption, study, nuclear, SMR, jobs, subsidies, federal spending,.