China has more than 97% of the world’s production of silicon wafers, essential for the production of solar panels, and does not want to lose that dominance.
The European Union (as well as other regions such as the United States and India) has long been pushing the development of renewable energy such as solar to reduce its energy independence from other countries such as Russia and China. However, disturbing voices come from the Asian country: China could leave the rest of the world without solar panels.
It’s a warning echoed by Bloomberg. Europe depends on China for two things: the electric car industry (the Asian country manufactures most of the batteries) and the solar panel industry.
And we have already seen in the last two years the consequences of such strong dependencies, such as the microchip crisis that has caused stoppages in many car factories and huge delays in deliveries to customers.
China, leader in the production of solar panels
Specifically, China has more than 97% of the world’s production of silicon wafers, essential for the production of solar panels. And the development of a solar industry in Europe would mean that the Asian country would lose its position of absolute dominance.
In fact, both Europe and the United States and India have stepped on the accelerator to develop technologies and factories like the Chinese, which has led the Chinese government to raise the possibility of limiting exports to those markets and, thus, slow down development in those regions.
China could leave the rest of the world without solar panels
China does not want to lose its dominant position in the production of solar panels and, from the government, they are evaluating measures to combat the effort that Europe, the United States and India are making in the development of solar energy industries and protect the Chinese industry.
To do this, the main measure that the Chinese government is considering is to carefully control exports to prevent the development of the renewable energy sector, especially solar energy, in the aforementioned regions.
At the moment, the limitation of Chinese solar technology is just an idea handled by the high levels of the Asian giant and it is unknown if, finally, they will decide to carry it out, but, if so, it would be a major obstacle, seeing how advanced it is. is this industry in important markets such as Europe.
serious consequences
On the other hand, China’s decision could have important geopolitical consequences, especially between the United States and China.
It seems difficult, at the moment, for China to be able to stop the development of the solar panel industry outside its borders, placing limits on exports, but there is no doubt that it would cause significant damage.
It would be legitimate to think that China’s true interest is that the rest of the world cannot develop its own industry so that they continue buying solar panels from it. Ultimately, what the Asian country is really looking for is that its competitors cannot match its technology and production capacity of photovoltaic panels.
