China’s cost advantage is formidable. A research unit of the European Commission calculated in a report in January that Chinese companies could make solar panels for 16 to 18.9 cents per watt of generating capacity. By contrast, it cost European companies 24.3 to 30 cents per watt, and American companies about 28 cents.
China unleashed the full might of its solar energy industry last year. It installed more solar panels than the United States has in its history. It cut the wholesale price of panels it sells by nearly half. And its exports of fully assembled solar panels climbed 38 percent while its exports of key components almost doubled.
Low electricity prices in China make a big difference. Manufacturing the main raw material for solar panels, polysilicon, requires huge amounts of energy. Solar panels typically must generate electricity for at least seven months to recoup the electricity that was needed to make them. A solar farm on the outskirts of Golmud, China, in 2018.
Combined exports of EVs, lithium-ion batteries and solar cells (the building blocks of solar panels) reached 264 billion yuan (US$36 billion) between January and March, a 66.9% year-on-year increase, Lv said. Altogether, they pulled up China’s overall export growth rate by two percentage points, he added.
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Yet, while Chinese solar panels are 20% cheaper than their American equivalents, this number is not the difference between the success and failure of the U.S. solar energy industry. High interest rates and the permitting quagmire must also be addressed. Ending China’s dominant position in the global solar market is not possible.