Britain To Benefit From China's Support

RENEWABLE ENERGY developers in Britain predict that state support for solar power in China will result in further price reductions in PV panels in the UK. China has announced a nationwide feed-in-tariff (FiT) scheme to accelerate development of its domestic solar energy industry. "China has created many cleantech companies that are driving value and efficiency into the production of standard crystalline silicon modules at an unprecedented rate," explained Lee Summers, director of UK solar developers EOS Energy, yesterday. "Their problem is that they will be overproducing solar panels because of the slowdown in European and US markets. Their answer is to stimulate a huge domestic market for solar so that they can continue to sustain jobs and profits in that sector."

Germany and Italy have recently reduced their solar FiTs and DECC cut support for large-scale developments earlier this year. The good news for Britain's solar developers was that the introduction of the Chinese FiT would continue to drive down prices of solar panels globally. "The scale of the manufacturing output of the Chinese solar industry is driving down prices," said Mr Summers. "At least half of all solar panels produced in the world are made in China." "It is true to say that the Germans are leading the way in the development of new solar technologies and the deployment of solar but the Germans are struggling to keep up on the cost reduction front leading to increased market share being gained by the Chinese manufacturers," he said. Miao Liansheng, of the Chinese solar panel manufacturers Yingli said: "We strongly believe that China will quickly evolve into one of the largest and most important solar markets in the world."