3 ms·
> not because it's impossible to do in the US The US manufacturers couldn't compete on cost because critical materials were either solely available or so low c
by TooBrokeToBeg 8y ago
> not because it's impossible to do in the US
The US manufacturers couldn't compete on cost because critical materials were either solely available or so low cost, from China, that it drove competition out of the material markets in the US. This is one of those, ask any manufacturer, rather than a guess. Then factor in labor costs and you ended up with yet-another-chinese-dominant market where improvements were done in China snowballing the situation to today.
- epistasis 8y agoPerhaps if you're trying to compete on bottom of the barrel costs, but that's only one segment of the market. Panels themselves are only about a third in the cost; therefore it rarely makes sense to go with the cheapest panels. Higher quality, longer life span, higher cost panels tend to win out because higher efficiency means more energy per panel and those other costs are often per panel. This is more extreme in the residential market where the panel costs are an even smaller fraction of the cost.
- chopin 8y agoMake them cheap to mount. At least here in Europe that is the most limiting factor with regards to cost.