How to win the solar war

The solar energy industry has developed rapidly in China, but in the United States, there are few cars and horses in front of the door. Why is the same thing treated differently in two countries?

The other day, I visited a solar cell factory in China. Although the wages of local workers are not high, this does not mean that their factory structure is poor or the roof leaks. On the contrary, these factories are the most modern and efficient factories I have ever seen in the world. A large part of their management has received training in North America and is very talented, which can help their factories gain and maintain a leading position in the global competition.

After China, let's take a look at the efforts made by Germany in the solar energy industry. It is far fetched to say that Germany is a country rich in solar energy resources, but it has installed more solar panels than any other country. The reason why Germans are so keen on solar energy is that families get a high subsidy of 75 cents for every degree of solar power sold to the grid. Spain has introduced similar stimulus policies. In addition, the UK, France and Canada have also recently increased feed in tariff subsidies to make them more competitive in the market.

In contrast, the uproar caused by the recent setting of the feed in tariff subsidy at 32 cents in Gainesville, Florida, is puzzling. The reason is that the feed in tariff subsidy in the United States is too low. For example, in California, feed in tariff subsidies are as low as 10 cents, which is higher than most cities in the United States with feed in tariff subsidies. In addition to limiting and lowering the on grid electricity price, the United States has also issued relevant regulations to set an upper limit for the solar power generation that each family can sell into the power grid, which is undoubtedly worse for the development of solar energy.

Nowadays, many of the solar energy policies publicized in American newspapers were put forward by Germany, Japan and Spain 10 years ago, while China and France have formulated them as early as five years ago. Although we are stepping up our catch-up, we have not taken the measures that our competitors have long been accustomed to. If Internet subsidies are allowed to rise, we may see an "explosion" in the demand for renewable energy. At the same time, the rising price of renewable energy will also reduce our dependence on foreign energy and stimulate the development of domestic renewable energy market.