Chinese Zombie Solar Companies Emerging After Years of Subsidies
Interesting read about the evolution of solar and the influence of China in the global picture. Puts new light on Solyndra. Read Here.
Archive for the ‘China’ Category
Banks Double Down On Solar Investments – Forbes
Banks Double Down On Solar Investments – Forbes.
Todd Woody, Forbes Staff
I cover environmental and green technology issues from San Francisco.
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7/27/2012 @ 1:51PM |1,615 views
Banks Double Down On Solar Investments
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The solar industry may be in turmoil as a trade war with China widens to Europe and photovoltaic module manufacturers take big hits on Wall Street but for companies that install solar panels on rooftops the boom times roll on. Read more
Boost of Solar Power Projects Emerge in China’s Xinjiang Region | Renewable Energy News Article
Boost of Solar Power Projects Emerge in China’s Xinjiang Region | Renewable Energy News Article.
BEIJING — The government of Bole city, Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, China recently signed an agreement with Hubei-based JCS Solar for a 6 billion yuan (US$948 million) photovoltaic project to be located next to the area’s Sayram Lake. Construction of the 13 million square-meter facility is expected to take three years. Phase I of the project is expected to yield 30-MW of capacity and connect to the grid when completed by the end of October 2012.
Wang Xinchun, a director at the Investment Invitation Bureau of Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture, said it is Bortala’s first PV project and represents a good start at establishing a photovoltaic base in the area and facilitating the diversification of energy sources and an overall upgrade for the sector. Full Article
We will have a lot of catching up to do. – Val
Solar Thermal Scales New Heights in China | Renewable Energy World Magazine Article
Solar Thermal Scales New Heights in China | Renewable Energy World Magazine Article.
ezhou, China — Ask any six-year-old in a Chinese street, ‘What’s a solar water heater and what’s it for?’ Without hesitation they will tell you: ‘A solar water heater is on the roof of a building to make hot water for the shower’. This story is told by Hongzhi Cheng, vice secretary-general of the Beijing-based Chinese Solar Thermal Industry Federation (CSTIF) and head of The Sun’s Vision, a company based in the city of Dezhou in Shandong province.
Dezhou, one hour by car south of Beijing, has become one of China’s solar towns due to the presence of Himin Solar, one of the country’s largest solar water heater manufacturers. For a German visitor with an interest in solar thermal technology, driving in the city provides an exciting tour past scores of roof and facade installations.
to read more go to Full article
Renewable Power Trumps Fossils for First Time as UN Talks Stall – Bloomberg
Renewable Power Trumps Fossils for First Time as UN Talks Stall – Bloomberg.
By Alex Morales – Nov 25, 2011 8:13 AM ET
Renewable energy is surpassing fossil fuels for the first time in new power-plant investments, shaking off setbacks from the financial crisis and an impasse at the United Nations global warming talks.
Electricity from the wind, sun, waves and biomass drew $187 billion last year compared with $157 billion for natural gas, oil and coal, according to calculations by Bloomberg New Energy Finance using the latest data. Accelerating installations of solar- and wind-power plants led to lower equipment prices, making clean energy more competitive with coal.
“The progress of renewables has been nothing short of remarkable,” United Nations Environment Program Executive Secretary Achim Steiner said in an interview. “You have record investment in the midst of an economic and financial crisis.”
The findings indicate the world is shifting toward consuming more renewable energy even without a global agreement on limiting greenhouse gases. Delegates from more than 190 nations converge in Durban, South Africa, on Nov. 28 to discuss new measures for limiting emissions damaging the climate.
Subsidizing the Boom
The renewables boom, spurred by about $66 billion of subsidies last year, intensified competition between wind- turbine and solar-panel manufacturers, gutting margins from the biggest producers led by Vestas Wind Systems A/S and First Solar Inc. (FSLR) The 95-member WilderHill New Energy Index (NEX) of renewable- energy stocks has tumbled 40 percent this year, steeper than the 14 percent drop in the MSCI World Index.
The zeal to replace fossil fuels, which take millions of years to form from dead organic matter, belies the failed efforts at the UN talks to broker a deal that would limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal and oil blamed for global warming. Without a deal, existing pollution caps under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol expire next year.
The Future of Clean Tech and Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About China | Renewable Energy News Article
The Future of Clean Tech and Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About China | Renewable Energy News Article.
The Future of Clean Tech and Why I Can’t Stop Thinking About China
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Share When Clint Wilder and I wrote our first book, The Clean Tech Revolution, we knew we needed to travel to China if we wanted to understand the future of clean tech. Mind you, our trip took place more than five years ago, well before most people uttered the words “China” and “clean tech” in the same breath. But it was becoming increasingly clear, even then, why China was going to be such a force to reckon with. Today, most businesspeople, investors, politicians, entrepreneurs, and students understand the Chinese clean-tech juggernaut, what it might mean to the U.S., and why we need to prepare.
So why is China really scaring me right now? Earlier this year I wrote in a column on why I think America can compete with China in the clean-tech race. And I still stand by those points. But a number of recent developments are making China’s aggressive push, and America’s relative clean-tech ambivalence, of increasing concern:
- The China Development Bank (CDB) is being relentless in its funding of clean-tech concerns. While American politicians battle it out over Solyndra’s collapse and potential loss to the government of $528 million, the Chinese are pumping billions into their clean-tech concerns, knowing full well that some of them will fail. The CDB put more than $30 billion in credit into its burgeoning solar companies in 2010, including Suntech Power, Trina, and Yingli. It recently announced financial commitments to ensure that its fledgling wind industry can join the ranks of GE, Vestas, and Siemens, allocating at least $15 billion in state-backed credit to China’s biggest windmill makers Sinovel Wind Group and Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology. And China has plans to invest some $45 billion in smart-grid companies and technologies alone over the next five years.
These investments haven’t gone unnoticed in the U.S., and have been front and center in recent complaints that have claimed that China’s solar industry, for example, has an unfair trade advantage.
- One of the other things that make China and the U.S. so different is that Chinese national and regional leadership is now fully aligned behind clean tech as an economic development and jobs growth strategy. They aren’t fighting amongst themselves about whether they should support clean energy, but are instead fighting to lead in the sector. To put it simply, China believes in renewables. At the same time, our inept Congress dukes it out over one bad investment and seems increasingly polarized at every turn. We have states like California, Oregon, Connecticut, New York, and Colorado that are committed to clean tech, but without federal support they are left to figure out the puzzle mostly on their own.
- China is getting ready to outsmart us. “When you look at the political leaders in China they are mostly scientists and engineers, many from the power industry,” says Jefferies managing director Jesse Pichel. “But in the U.S. politicians are mostly lawyers.” And it’s not just business and policy talent that seems to be… to read full article go to top and click on title.
Asia Report: Fearing ‘Protectionism,’ China May Expand Domestic Market | Renewable Energy News Article
By Renewable Energy World Editors
November 14, 2011
New Hampshire, U.S.A. — While America continues to focus on increasing its energy security by manufacturing more of its own products, China officials are warning their domestic solar manufacturers about the inherent dangers of relying too heavily on foreign markets.
“Any policy change in foreign countries will cause turbulence in the domestic industry,” Ding Wenwu, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a forum over the weekend and reported by ChinaDaily. “International trade protectionism is on the rise, and Chinese enterprises should keep alert.”
China exports more than 90 percent of its solar panels, and many of those panels go into the U.S. market. To make up for the potential of a severed market, Chinese businesses are being encouraged to expand their domestic market.
Trade Dispute Will Carry Forward: Chinese Solar Imports Could Face Retroactive Tariffs | Renewable Energy News Article
By Jennifer Runyon, Managing Editor
November 9, 2011
New Hampshire, USA — Today the international trade coalition (ITC) announced its ruling on the trade dispute between U.S. and Chinese solar manufacturers. According to a press release issued by SolarWorld, the company that initiated the dispute and founded the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM), the U.S. government has found there is adequate evidence of wrongdoing by Chinese solar manufacturers and will conduct a formal investigation into the matter.
The ITC reportedly “found adequate cause for concern over Chinese solar export practices to initiate an intensive, year-long investigation,” said SolarWorld.
SolarWorld and six other anonymous companies allege that Chinese solar manufacturers have set prices for their products in the U.S. artificially low, a practice known as dumping. As evidence, CASM asserts federal trade data shows that Chinese exports into America in July 2011 alone exceeded those of all of 2010. The group seeks a federal determination of “critical circumstances,” which would require that any import duties that could result of the lawsuit be retroactive for three months.
A ruling could come down as early as December. Should the ITC on December 5th find that Chinese exports have harmed the domestic industry, the first possible determination on “critical circumstances” could come as soon as Jan. 12, meaning importers of record could later be required to deposit estimated duties on imports back to this past Oct. 14, according to CASM.
Reverberations are expected throughout the solar energy industry.
Outsourcing Our Chagrin: China’s Reaction to Solar Trade Complaint | Renewable Energy News Article
Outsourcing Our Chagrin: China’s Reaction to Solar Trade Complaint | Renewable Energy News Article.
One of the pleasures of covering China is the opportunity to encounter rich and colorful language. This certainly is due to the vibrancy of the Chinese language, but it also is a commentary on the heat that a given topic generates. Normally, subjects like wind turbine installations, feed-in tariffs, import/export statistics on solar products and other bread and butter developments in the renewable energy industry do not lend themselves to such literary heights.
Trade friction, however, elicits quite evocative Chinese prose. And such is the case following SolarWorld and the other plaintiffs’ anti-dumping and anti-subsidy actions, as well as Westinghouse’s accusations of intellectual property theft.
The Chinese not only are driving down the price of solar panels, they’re also articulating the tussle over solar trade more eloquently. The language of indignation in the U.S. over unfair trade practices of the Chinese in the renewable energy space pales by comparison to the vivid expressions of hurt, disappointment and resentment, tinged with condescension and resolve, that one is now finding in the Chinese press. It’s a good thing that most Americans don’t read Chinese, because if they did, the publishing industry might be the next that is outsourced to China. To read full article click on title above.
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