Global glut turns solar panels into garden fencing option

ft.com

5 points·scrlk··7 comments

Isn't it spectacular that in the middle of a catastrophic climate emergency, capitalism still finds a way to put barriers in the way of deploying as much renewable technology as possible? Wow!

From the article: 'Speaking at a solar factory in Georgia on Wednesday, US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen pressed China to stop flooding the market with cheap green technology exports.'

Will local protectionism hurt global supply, though? If the US protects its domestic solar industry, that will slow down the US transition, but the total number of solar panels being made globally should go up, which will indirectly accelerate the renewable transition by reducing the price of Chinese made panels even further. I'm not confident in my economic reasoning here, so correct me if I'm wrong.

Good point. Of course, that US centric viewpoint - valid as it is - doesn't help the overall climate picture much. I guess what we need is more global cooperation to ensure that renewables are promoted as much as possible, as quickly as possible?

Well, kinda. China can find other markets for their cheap solar panels. In the US, the focus right now is bringing up domestic supply, which will increase global solar panel capacity.

Bottleneck just moved from the panels themselves to deployment. That can happen in any system.

Indeed. That's why the fencing option in the FT article is such a great idea. Governments should be encouraging this sort of thinking outside the box. :)

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