Germany racked up one economic success after another for most of this century. But the loss of Russian natural gas due to the war in Ukraine has dealt a severe blow to its industry through higher energy costs.
The link you sent refers to subsidies from previous years that haven’t actually been paid out yet. The Chinese government did the classic play of “here’s some subsidies jokes haha we’ll totally pay you ten years later if you’re not bankrupt by then haha.”
So… Thanks for helping my point, I guess? For a historical perspective, China’s solar PV subsidies have been almost entirely demand-side with the exception of academic research grants, national labs, and poverty-alleviating policies.
It’s not like subsidizing an emerging industry is that unusual: the problem is usually when people keep subsidizing output from that industry after it’s a mature competitor. German subsidies were at, what, 37c/kWh with 8877MW (8760 hours per year, 25% typical daily efficiency) installed in 2010? Those subsidies are massive, so either Germany is incompetent at solar PV development or neoliberal policies don’t work and the government should have been more active in managing the nascent industry.
But you do realize that you quoted numbers for the wrong part of the economy in the wrong timeframe!?
For a historical perspective, China’s solar PV subsidies have been almost entirely demand-side with the exception of academic research grants, national labs, and poverty-alleviating policies.
Please let me know when you find any proof of that. There’s a reason why there is an entire solar supply chain concentrated in Xinjiang, rather than some more developed coastal region. (It’s subsidies.)
The link you sent refers to subsidies from previous years that haven’t actually been paid out yet. The Chinese government did the classic play of “here’s some subsidies jokes haha we’ll totally pay you ten years later if you’re not bankrupt by then haha.”
So… Thanks for helping my point, I guess? For a historical perspective, China’s solar PV subsidies have been almost entirely demand-side with the exception of academic research grants, national labs, and poverty-alleviating policies.
It’s not like subsidizing an emerging industry is that unusual: the problem is usually when people keep subsidizing output from that industry after it’s a mature competitor. German subsidies were at, what, 37c/kWh with 8877MW (8760 hours per year, 25% typical daily efficiency) installed in 2010? Those subsidies are massive, so either Germany is incompetent at solar PV development or neoliberal policies don’t work and the government should have been more active in managing the nascent industry.
But you do realize that you quoted numbers for the wrong part of the economy in the wrong timeframe!?
Please let me know when you find any proof of that. There’s a reason why there is an entire solar supply chain concentrated in Xinjiang, rather than some more developed coastal region. (It’s subsidies.)
(it’s cheaper labour and the fact that Xinjiang is literally the perfect place to deploy solar)