Solar Power Cells, Hot Water, Energy, Collectors

Rather Than Compete With China on Solar, US Should Incentivize Demand

01.01.70

Such a mandate can help financiers see the money they can make with solar electric systems. If U.S. policymakers want to buttress such a policy with domestic content requirements, so be it, as long as Chinese and other foreign companies can find a way to play ball by teaming with U.S. partners and vice versa. That keeps costs declining, jobs growing and pollution declining while leveling the playing field with more transparency.

After conversations with Jigar Shah, on behalf of the international Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy , and Hari Chandra Polavarapu, a solar power / clean tech analyst at Auriga USA , who sides with the opposing Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing , it’s clear to me that a healthy end- (aka “downstream”) market is vital to U.S. interests. And it’s something the U.S. can control. A U.S.  commitment to solar can achieve what’s doable and avoid the fallout of a nasty trade war with China.

If Chinese companies don’t play ball in a relatively even-handed fashion, they WILL find the means to do otherwise, beginning with outright acquisitions of U.S. companies. And I’m not talking about just equipment suppliers. They could take aim at designers and installers too. We can already see one dimension of this happening in the burgeoning oil shale industry. Devon Energy this week sold a one-third stake of selected oil shale properties to the China Petrochemical Corp. also known as “Sinopec.

Source: Energy Collective