That only happened after China started eating their (and Japan's) lunch. There's a great old chart which shows this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5_

That only happened after China started eating their (and Japan's) lunch. There's a great old chart which shows this: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5_Largest_Producers_of_Solar_Photovoltaics,_%25_of_Total_World_Solar_PV_Production_2001-10.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5_Largest_Producers_... Right around that time Germany's solar boom started in earnest: https://www.statista.com/chart/2397/solar-power-made-massive-strides-in-2013/ https://www.statista.com/chart/2397/solar-power-made-massive... Which was powered largely by Chinese panels. Since we can't have nice things, tariffs were imposed: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_13_501 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_13_...