Dark times for China’s Suntech
Things are going from bad to worse for Suntech Power, the Chinese solar panel maker.
The company, which has been fighting to stay afloat amid falling panel prices and slowing demand, became the latest company from mainland China to default on its international bonds. Continue reading »
India: greenhouses with solar panels
The US has this week formally complained that India’s national solar programme, which requires developers to use only domestically-produced modules and cells, contravenes global trade rules.
But far away from the emerging trade dispute, Indian companies and their partners are powering ahead with innovative solar schemes, even if the local content rules restrict the import of foreign solar technology. Take for example, solar-powered greenhouse-generators. Continue reading »
US industrials take spill in solar flare-up
By Ed Crooks
Earlier this year the US decided to impose two sets of duties on imports of Chinese solar cells; a move that it confirmed, with some adjustments, earlier this month. Now it is becoming increasingly clear – as this excellent piece from the FT’s Leslie Hook points out – that the Chinese solar industry is in deep trouble: a “patient on life support”, as one policy-maker puts it.
So US industrials should be rejoicing, right? Well, no. Not if you are DuPont, Dow Chemical and 3M. This week all three US chemical companies said their earnings have been hit by the downturn in the solar industry, especially in China. Continue reading »
Guest post: solar energy trade wars – enough is enough
By Zhengrong Shi of Suntech
While nations united to celebrate the Olympics and Paralympics in London, the world’s superpowers are competing for a dubious crown – how to outdo each other in economic nationalism in solar energy. Continue reading »
[video] China’s solar silicon boom
Growing demand for solar panels has increased the number of suppliers of high purity silicon, its key raw material, including those in China. Peter Marsh, FT manufacturing editor, reports from Asia Silicon in the remote Chinese city of Xining.
Guest post: the case for US tariffs on Chinese solar panels
By Usha Haley and George Haley
With the US Commerce Department’s preliminary decision last week to impose a 31 per cent anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, some commentators, including Kelly Sims Gallagher and Kevin P. Gallagher, have warned that this is the first shot in a job-killing trade war with China.
Professed fears of a trade war are as predictable as night after day. Fortunately, the hand wringing is largely unnecessary. Prediction of a trade war is largely a dangerous myth. Continue reading »
Guest post: Blinded by the (solar) light
By Kelly Sims Gallagher and Kevin P. Gallagher
The Obama Administration’s preliminary decision to impose a 31 per cent tariff on solar panels imported from China is short sighted. The move could cause a trade war, hurt the US economy, jeopardize US security interests, and put the world further off course in terms of meeting its global climate change goals. Continue reading »
Solar panels: latest hot spot in US-China trade tensions
There are many things China comes under fire for when US politicians take the stage: stealing American jobs is an old favourite, as is “manipulation” of the renminbi to keep Chinese manufacturing cheap. Then there are the exports of toxic petfood, or lead-coated children’s toys. But the latest broadside from Capitol Hill hits out at a new, and somewhat surprising, target: cheap Chinese solar panels being installed on American homes. Continue reading »
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Stefan Wagstyl
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh