by HOW MUCH OF A PERCENTAGE OF CHINA MADE SOLAR PANELS? Because of the dramatic improve in the use of solar power in the U.S. over the past few years solar panels are becoming more commonplace all over the nation. Due to how well-known solar power is it is logical to U.S. based solar companies to produce at least a portion of these panels inside the United States. However, the reality is that by 2024 -as per information obtained from International Energy Agency (IEA) over 80percent of the world’s solar panel production is happening in China.
Presently, China is home to the world’s top 10 manufacturers of solar-related equipment and China’s huge investments in the field have led to the total cost of different kinds of solar cells reducing by as much as 20% alike to IEA estimates. Although China enjoys the usual advantages of a country with a middle income which include a large workforce and less expensive wages, China also benefits from the favorable policies implemented in the hands of government. The policies have ensured that in 2021 alone China has exported over 40 billion dollars worth of solar technology to the rest of the world.
China is currently way ahead in the solar field that it will be the leader in this area until the year 2025, and possibly beyond. Based on China’s upcoming and under-construction solar-related projects, China’s percentage of the world’s manufacturing of key solar panel components such as polysilicon, ingots and wafers could be higher than 95%..
U.S. efforts to reduce Chinese dependence have mostly failed
Between 2014 to 2023, there has seen an 8-fold rise in solar power capacity in the U.S. While this has contributed for this U.S. decreasing its dependence of fossil fuels for power, at the moment currently, the country is increasingly dependent on Chinese manufacture solar cells to achieve its renewable energy goals.
It is clear that the U.S. government is aware of this and has taken a number of steps to decrease dependency on China for solar energy, such as efforts under an effort to pass the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. One recent example of this is President Obama’s choice to rise the tariffs for solar cells that are import from China from 25% to 50%..
Apart from making solar panels made in China more expensive to buy In addition, it is also a sign that the U.S. Government is heavily encouraging local production of components for solar energy. The government has also offered loans and tax credits to boost the solar components manufacturing sector in the U.S. These initiatives have led to companies offering more than $17 billion of targeted investments for solar-powered energy sector. This is because the U.S. government is hopeful that these changes to the policy will boost production capacity eight-fold with substantial outcome being seen in 2030.
Although the Biden administration has claimed that the measures will encourage the growth of solar power capacities outside the U.S., it remains to be seen what the impact these policies.
