Essay by Eric Worrall
According to CCP mouthpiece Global Times, up to 50% of China’s solar panel output this year will be purchased by Europe, in a desperate attempt to replace Russian gas imports.
Demand for China’s solar panels soars in Europe amid energy crisis, green transformation
Europe to take 50% of China’s PV exports in 2022 amid energy crisis
By GT staff reporters Published: Oct 23, 2022 09:04 PM
…
Chinese insiders said that the EU is likely to take up to 50 percent of China’s total PV exports this year.
Xu Aihua, deputy head of the Silicon Industry of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, told the Global Times on Sunday that the soaring demand for solar panels reflects geopolitical changes in Europe and the region’s green push.
Exports of PV modules have surged. From January to August, China’s exports reached $35.77 billion in terms of value, generating electricity of 100 gigawatts. Both exceeded the whole year of 2021, China Photovoltaic Industry Association data said.
…
The numbers are reflected in the performance of domestic PV companies. For example, Tongwei Group on Friday said that its revenue in the first three quarters reached 102.084 billion yuan ($14.09 billion), a year-on-year gain of 118.6 percent.
As of the end of the third quarter, Tongwei’s global market share exceeded 25 percent, making it the world’s largest polysilicon manufacturer, according to media reports.
…
Read more: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202210/1277756.shtml
Does anyone seriously believe $35 billion spent on solar panels will make a significant difference to Europe’s energy crisis?
If solar panels were any good for solving energy shortfalls, China would have kept the panels for themselves – China is currently suffering energy insecurity. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping understands, he recently announced he has no plans to abandon fossil fuel until renewables were capable of providing energy security.
The problem with attempting to use renewables to solve an energy security crisis is obvious, except maybe to the politicians in charge of Europe.
Solar panels don’t work at night, so massive energy storage capacity would be required to maintain warmth on cold nights. Wind also tends to die down at night.
European winter daytime solar is not much better than night time – Northern Europe especially sees very little sun in winter. Southern Europe also has prolonged periods of bad weather, and sometimes even has snow in winter.
No matter how many solar panels and wind turbines are deployed, fossil fuel backup is still required – more fossil fuel capacity than Europe seems to have access to right now.
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it’s just sad that europe exports so much of its money to russia and china while their own economies go down the tubes . i’m not a big believer in conspiracy theories but the russians and chinese have certainly stoked their own economies and geopolitical power because of the west’s obsession with climate crisis baloney , which they themselves don’t seem to care a fig about
Of course not. The idea is to increase profit and the energy crisis in order to justify state control of energy.
Considering Chinese-made solar panels are defective, this is indeed a foolish political trap.
expensive yes, defective how?
The Greens have too many government officials and part of the public brainwashed into the belief that renewables like wind and solar can supplant fossil fuels. In fact, the only ones that can do this, and only on a partial basis, are hydro and nuclear; yet it’s amazing how much stubborn opposition exists toward them. They need to examine the recent Goldman Sachs report that points out that despite immense sums invested in renewables during the past decade, they haven’t come even close to unseating fossil fuels as the world’s chief energy suppliers.
What’s the capacity factor for solar in Germany during the three (3) months of Winter? 5% or less?
Europe no longer has an energy crisis lands to LNG
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/energy/europe-natural-gas-prices-plunge/index.html
LNG glut city…. stuff Putin’s nightmares are made. Time to build CNG cars and take down OPEC. Forget EV’s until there is a better battery (the car has no value when the batteries are done in 10 or less years).. Hydrocarbon fuel markets is driving the global politique, (The World Economic Forum‘s Reset, the side ways propaganda war, the espionage war, the global arms race and Russia’s war in Ukraine) time to grab a hold while we can. Now it’ time to stop selling LNG to Brazil, build our LNG ports in the Black Sea and take control of Gazprom’s partitioned energy market in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia while we can.
My guess is the solar market will eventually plunge in Europe now that their NG market isn’t monopolized by Gazprom. Building LNG ports will be a big boom and US LNG will flow to Europe. Brazil will see that they have been hoodwinked by Putin and will not longer be a net importer of LNG but a major net exporter of LNG as they fully exploit their massive NG reserve and begin to export LNG as they had planned in 2014.
Solar would be a very viable energy input with cheap energy storage, which does not currently exist.