Why solyndra failed china

Discover Membership. Editions Quartz. More from Quartz About Quartz. Follow Quartz. Green can mean trash pickup, for instance. In the case of solar, it can mean the installation of panels, or the manufacture of panels, or the manufacture of the machines that make the panels. A wind turbine engineer and a garbage man can be lumped into the same job class if a politician needs the numbers to work.

But solar is selling well… It is. That is, the solar cells themselves are just a product, like computer chips or textiles. The Chinese are able to produce solar cells more cheaply than American factories. This is generally true. Keep in mind the people claiming this are American manufacturers who would like more funding and less regulation.

Some Chinese manufacturers plan to spread their production to South Korea, Taiwan and the United States to soften the blow of potential tariffs and gain favor in Washington. Targets for a tit-for-tat retaliation include filing a trade case against the polysilicon industry in the United States. Polysilicon is a key component for solar panels, and it requires vast amounts of electricity to produce. The United States is one of the largest exporters of polysilicon, making it a prime target for a retaliatory investigation.

The drop in solar panel prices has affected more then just Solyndra. Together, these three companies represent one-sixth of American manufacturing of solar panels. See Subscription Options.

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