China’s solar market growth has hit the rocket phase in late 2011 with the announcement of the long awaited national Feed in Tariff . Many of the Chinese utilities have set up large solar farms utilizing the cheap solar panels produced by Chinese solar panel companies. Note Chinese solar companies are the dominant players in the world having almost killed the western solar industry in the last couple of years. With cheap costs and massive government support, China is almost ruling the solar industry globally . In the domestic Chinese market they have even a bigger advantage given the local home conditions and preference of domestic companies . Note China become home to the biggest wind turbine companies when China enacted the domestic content requirements in 2006. With the solar industry , the Chinese government does not need this law as its companies already possess massive advantages over the foreign competition.<\/p>\n
Note the only large project in Ordos which was awarded to US solar company First Solar is gathering dust in the last couple of years. This project was opposed by major local panel makers like Trina, Yingli and others. With First Solar the cheapest solar panel producer in the world itself unable to compete in China, there is absolutely no hope for the competition. With expectation that Chian will become the largest solar market in 2012 , foreign solar companies can draw no succour.<\/p>\n
First Solar\u2019s Showpiece 2000 MW Solar Plant in Inner Mongolia gets Stalled by Chinese Protectionism<\/a><\/p>\n .This was hyped by the Chinese and USA media as the dawn of a new cooperation with the world\u2019s two biggest economies in the Green Energy area.However,its already August 2010 and there is no sign of any activity.Washington Post has reported that the Inner Mongolian Government has having second thoughts about the building of the plant.Note China is already being acknowledged as the\u00a0CleanTech Leader by US companies<\/a>\u00a0with even world class companies like Honda scouting China for Battery Technology.China\u2019s low cost solar panel producers like Yingli,Trina and Suntech have captured a huge amount of global marketshare from the US and European companies.Some of these companies have lobbied the Ordos government to put the huge project on tender rather than just awarding it to First Solar.Note First Solar has not managed to get a FIT deal from the Chinese despite numerous attempts.China\u2019s Solar Projects generally see Cutthroat Competition\u00a0with negative investor returns<\/p>\n In wind energy , China\u2019s growth over the last 2-3 years has been awesome with more than 100% CAGR . It has helped in growing wind turbine manufacturers through domestic content requirements.Now that these companies have sufficient technology and are able to leverage their low cost advantages , China has removed the restrictions in Jan 2010 to attack other markets.\u00a0Vestas the leading European turbine manufacturer<\/a>\u00a0like the solar makers has fallen into the red. The only way for these companies to survive is to move their manufacturing to Asia . Ultimately the technology will also follow ( Applied Materials has also move its R&D to Shanghai). Just like the semi and electronics industry,Europe will start looking like a marginal player in the global alternative energy industry. Despite strong domestic\u00a0 demand and policy support , the European industry has been outsmarted and outplayed by\u00a0 the Chinese.<\/p>\nWill China Dominate Global Wind like it is dominating Solar ; Europeans bleed while Chinese capture marketshare<\/a><\/h4>\n