4 ms·

You're forgetting labor costs in the US are much higher and environmental regulations are much more strict. So US made panels will unlikely to ever be price com

You're forgetting labor costs in the US are much higher and environmental regulations are much more strict. So US made panels will unlikely to ever be price competitive with the Chinese made ones.

Teever 4y ago
I was under the impression that most of the cost difference between Chinese and American panels was due to dumping efforts by the Chinese government.
- philipkglass 4y ago
  Dumping is when a producer sells their product at a lower price abroad than they do domestically [1]. For example, if Chinese solar panels sell for the Renminbi equivalent of 35 cents per watt domestically, but are sold for 30 cents per watt in the United States, that would be dumping. As far as I can tell, Chinese solar manufacturers do not engage in this sort of straightforward and easy to define dumping. They sell their products at comparable low prices both domestically and abroad. The United States claims that advantages given to Chinese solar manufacturers (like low cost land and industrial partnerships with local governments) are unfair and counters them with measures termed "anti dumping" tariffs. Given how many perks American states and municipalities roll out to attract manufacturing jobs, including solar jobs [2], I don't see how the Chinese incentives for solar manufacturing go too far. I rather think it's something like the situation with Canadian softwood exports to the US [3]: the US government's position is dubious, but it's too powerful in practice to be held to account. [1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dumping.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dumping.asp [2] https://bgindependentmedia.org/first-solar-site-promising-500-new-jobs-gets-tax-break/ https://bgindependentmedia.org/first-solar-site-promising-50... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_States_softwood_lumber_dispute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_States_s...
photochemsyn 4y ago
Come on, you can make silicon monocrystalline products without pollution with appropriate controls, it's no different from the computer chip production process. See CHIPS act? China doesn't have a big natural gas / crude oil sector trying to block development of alternatives to their products, that's the difference.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

You're forgetting labor costs in the US are much higher and environmental regulations are much more strict. So US made panels will unlikely to ever be price competitive with the Chinese made ones.

Teever 4y ago

I was under the impression that most of the cost difference between Chinese and American panels was due to dumping efforts by the Chinese government.

philipkglass 4y ago
Dumping is when a producer sells their product at a lower price abroad than they do domestically [1]. For example, if Chinese solar panels sell for the Renminbi equivalent of 35 cents per watt domestically, but are sold for 30 cents per watt in the United States, that would be dumping. As far as I can tell, Chinese solar manufacturers do not engage in this sort of straightforward and easy to define dumping. They sell their products at comparable low prices both domestically and abroad. The United States claims that advantages given to Chinese solar manufacturers (like low cost land and industrial partnerships with local governments) are unfair and counters them with measures termed "anti dumping" tariffs. Given how many perks American states and municipalities roll out to attract manufacturing jobs, including solar jobs [2], I don't see how the Chinese incentives for solar manufacturing go too far. I rather think it's something like the situation with Canadian softwood exports to the US [3]: the US government's position is dubious, but it's too powerful in practice to be held to account. [1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dumping.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dumping.asp [2] https://bgindependentmedia.org/first-solar-site-promising-500-new-jobs-gets-tax-break/ https://bgindependentmedia.org/first-solar-site-promising-50... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_States_softwood_lumber_dispute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%E2%80%93United_States_s...

photochemsyn 4y ago

Come on, you can make silicon monocrystalline products without pollution with appropriate controls, it's no different from the computer chip production process. See CHIPS act? China doesn't have a big natural gas / crude oil sector trying to block development of alternatives to their products, that's the difference.

deleted 4y ago
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