How Germany Lost Its Solar Industry to China
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- Опубликовано: 11 июн 2024
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Into Europe: Germany and Europe are looking to get back into the solar industry, so why did they lose their industry in the first place?
00:00 Intro
01:07 The Rise of Germany
03:18 Skilshare Sponsored Segment
04:38 China Enters the Game
07:44 The Quadruple storm
11:42 The Last Man Standing
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Only China can make solar cheap enough to accelerate installation . It's a win for human.
Yes, that was why I installed solar panels 3 months ago. They are now much more affordable.
@@rogerfaint499如果是欧美掌握这项技术那么意味着成本至少要再贵一半以上，而中国得益于全产业链的相对欧美便宜，因为可以生产出非洲兄弟都能使用的产品，这是人类使用清洁能源的胜利
@@user-wp5ke6zc2m Agreed.
@@user-wp5ke6zc2m果太阳能产业掌握在发达国家手上，那这就是有钱人才用得到的东西了。。正如我现在各种智能设备，扫地机械人，智能电视，智能电灯。如果这些技术都在发达国家手上，发展中国家的普通家庭根本用不起。
when China want to enter the market the government will support the business to make it into world class domination mentality.
Let me tell you something you don’t know: I was a graduate student from 1984 to 1987 for M.S degree in Shandong University. The project was making solar panels. We were able to achieve 19% efficiency at that time. So the solar industry didn’t come out of nowhere overnight.
Solar panels started in 1860s on NYC rooftops through the experiments of two man team, one French & one American. Prior to the 1930s the US had commercial solar water heaters, first patented by a man in Baltimore in 1891… No the industry didn’t come out of nowhere overnight lol
@@BabuB1 Very true. The US truly had innovation. TVs, Cars, chips, computers. That gave the US a good life. People look up to the US. But things changed 20 years ago. Suddenly, innovation slowed. Significantly. And things got worse. People's education level is lower. Lifespan is lower. Violence is up. Homelessness is up. Innovation from US companies slowed. People find lesser and lesser things to admire about the US. Like what you're saying, you can only reminisce of the good old times. I am afraid those times will not return. I'm sorry.
@@benyap6033 Thank neo-liberal economic policy looking only for profit, not innovation or even production. It farmed out production to cheap labor in China, leaving USA workers with less good paying manufacturing jobs. Now skilled labor is lost, manufacturing plants demolished or mothballed. Truly, the love of money kills.
@@BabuB1 @manimalworks7424 was referring to the Chinese solar industry did not come out of nowhere overnight.
@@bertanelson8062 It all started on the day someone waved a little vial of white powder at the UN meeting. That signaled the decline of integrity and morale that is still ongoing.
Thanks to Cheap and Effective pannes from China, now here in Ethiopia and across Africa now we have stable lights and basic electricity at home❤️❤️ Thanks China! Do what you have to do, copy what you have to do, in the end we are with you. Thanks to lights my siblings finished high school
You got a point there. Without China certain technologies can not be reached by poor countries. Hope the best for Ethiopia and the rest of Africa.
👏👏👏 Good to hear 👍
Go Ethiopia! Go Africa!! 👍👍
🇪🇹 🇨🇳 👍
like my comment who thinks this is written by a chinese propagandist. Someone who doesn't have lights to finish high school wouldn't have access to youtube, internet, or the level of comprehension of english to watch this video and leave a comment. Always remember the cost and think about the facts on the ground to not get tricked by propagandists like these.
*@kb.e3762* You've got to be joking! You are not only factually wrong, but your logic is absurd.
This is the problem with people who've never left their own bedroom talking about people of other countries.
I don't know if this roro4787 guy is genuine or not, but you are basing your accusations on a (brainless) false assumption.
(1) First, your weird logic.
Just because once upon a time they didn't have lights, and so they can't have RUclips today?????
What kind of logic is that?
(2) Now your ignorant assumptions.
Take myself as an example. I was brought up in the West, but I originally came from Hong Kong.
I left HK before I finished primary school. But even at that time, my English proficiency would probably have been enough to write up something similar to what he/she has done.
And I'm talking about PRIMARY school. He/she is talking about HIGH school.
( If you don't believe me, you can go to HK, and take a look at their primary school English textbooks ).
And this is of course assuming he can't have someone else check his English before posting.
@@kb.e3762e did say ‘stable’ lights, so it’s possible they have the money and access to what you’ve listed. Even the richest/elite of North Korea have daily electricity shortages, so money isn’t the issue but a stable source of electricity.
Very interesting analysis. Also, thanks for the shoutout at the end!
Yeah, there were massive subsidy cuts and planning was stopped across Germany which was Politically motivated. Unfortunately it had massive negative effects as expected thanks to Lobbyism etc. I hope there can be a economic framework to recover it again not only in Germany but in the EU and set up necessary and effective policy again.
Man, Don’t only listen to those loser companies. Their reports won’t touch the mistakes they have Made during the competitions. They won’t mention anything their opponents did better. Everything wrong is because China took the advantages, because they lack of support from the German government. Pioneer German companies didn’t get enough supports and profit? Ofc they did, but they didn’t use it to develop more affordable and universal products. Luxurious Lab products with a lot of subsidy won’t survive so lang. And thus slowly they got less support and finally lost their market.
truth
Scale does matter
Then people often forget China status as a developing country means it gets a lot of exemption and often doesn't reciprocate the same market access that developed countries grant its product
Its nativity on the west and plenty of.blames to go around
@@vinniechan do you think US are idiot when they created the WTO that grant those exemption? no they are not idiots, there is a reason why those exemption exist. the west should stop pretending to be victims when they are the one creating the rules. they know exactly why they created the rule like that, because if you don't, globalization won't work, there is no nativity, this is working as intended. so why did US create such a system? to benefit US bankers. the hollowing out of the west is all to suit the interest of the bankers, that's the secret.
China continuously supported their Solar industry with subsidies, while Germany Cut It Off. Don't underestimate the much lower prices thanks to extreme subsidies.
It's easy to buy your way to the top, If you're willing to create a debt weight loss in the world Markets, by artifically influencing prices.
during the crises, the chinese dumped hundreds of billions into their own solar industry and expanded the local market, while the german state was discussing how to kill its own industry by removing funding and placing barriers on solar pv.
Germany, the US and Japan had like 20-30 years headstart when it comes to solar and for decades they were not able to bring the price down.
It wasn't until China stepped in we get cheap, affordable solar panels.
Who said that touring around the world and drinking cold coffee in Greece would help?
@@greendsnowwhat?
@@greendsnow😊
@@quirinosaavedra9249 Yap. They wanted to profit of course 😂
USA and its allies dogs are capitalist which will suck your wallet dry. They only will come out with better product if current product doesnt generate much money.
I got solar panels from china also through dutch contractors.... 25 years waranty and it was 30 euros a month for 7 years.... the money I would get from the energy I generated, now I get back money without paying anything......
Germans were complacent, the Chinese competitors are much more hungry and move much faster. The Chinese does not lack innovation neither, if you look at nature index for scientific output, China and USA are the top two since late 2010s, and are way ahead of everyone else.
Competition is good for the world, as China produces more cost effective products for low tech and high tech, this will benefit developing world tremendously. To make the world a greener place, you will need to make the new energy products cheaper.
But china doesn't really innovate 😂, they just steal and use American technologies, but only produce them in mass to grab the most attention
the cause of failuer in leading solar industry is byond the scope of this video and is bigger than just solar industry
@@sermadreda399 May the best man win.
@@hyuxion 没那么简单还有不只是第三世界还有欧美等国家普通人民，他们买的起或者更容易获得更多物美价廉工业商品产品和货物东西而不是之前买不起昂贵的西方商品产品，还有他们资本家企业也收益投资有回报还有世界各国尤其是欧美等国家中国帮助他们维持几十年通货膨胀率和物价水平。
Yes you are champion, now go back to your land to make happy
German products have always been too expensive for Africans. It was the same for smart phones. Glad to have China dominating with cheaper alternatives.
Not only Africans southeast Asian and south Americans too
If Europe 🇪🇺 needs sun 🌞, here in Spain 🇪🇸 we have plenty. We sell it at a good price to every German tourist 🇩🇪 who visits Mallorca this summer 😁😁
Fantastic video, very informative. Went to gobe désert in China and saw so many solar farms, some stretch more than a few miles
A key point that the film neglects to mention is that China has made a breakthrough in monocrystalline silicon refining technology, and the large-scale commercial application of the FBR process has drastically reduced the cost of silicon (by orders of magnitude), allowing for cheap raw materials for SOLAR.A giant Chinese state-owned enterprise, Dongfang Electric, introduced the traditional Silane Siemens process to produce silicon in 2005, but just after it started production, it encountered the 2008 financial crisis, and after surviving the financial crisis, it encountered the maturity of the FBR process, which is completely incomparable to the cost of FBR, and finally invested tens of billions of dollars in the plant to be completely abandoned, and I believe that a similar plant in Germany will also be I believe that similar plants in Germany will also have the same experience, and the price of electricity in Germany is much higher than in China. I believe similar plants in Germany will have the same experience, and the price of electricity in Germany is much higher than that in China and t
he cost of silicon material type of electricity accounts for 30 to 40% of the cost.
No, our insane Energy costs are primarily driven by taxes and Other fees for our electric grid, plus an uncompetitive Market for Electricity Providers. I.e. high prices can mostly be Attributed to low competition and Not high costs of producing Energy.
germany's installation of solar panels, and most of europe's as well, collapsed around 2014 when subsidies were withdrawn because "competition", tarifs were introduced for chinese pv cells and new regulations for solar power were created.
this was an intentional act of self-harm, it destroyed an entire industry and hampered europe's transition toward a clean and cheap energy for a whole decade. we did all of this to satisfy the convervatives, who actually just wanted to see this industry dead.
the same thing happened to the germany offshore wind industry. the subsidies were withdrawn because someone thought that we shouldn't intervene like this in the market (while china's been dumping hundreds of billions in its own wind industry), which collapsed the offshore wind industry before it even got the chance to develop.
Despite the great success mainland China made in the short several decades, the people in the West still believe that CCP is evil and it will soon collapse the whole country.😂 And don't forget, CCP achieved all these great achievements without looting and colonizing like most Western countries did, the Chinese success is even more admirable when you factor in this aspect.
Because they are brainwashed, the West spent decades smearing China while China was busy developing itself
China invaded Tibet, crushed Hong Kong independence and is engaging in a cultural genocide against it's Muslim minority. It also benefited from the achievements of Europe and North America as was explained in this clip.
@@AB-zl4nh Go search some foreign youtubers' travel videos to Xinjiang and you know all these are lies, typical Western anti-China propaganda
@@AB-zl4nhthis ladies and gentlemen is a prime example of brainwashed sheep by US
China has no chance to accumulate the first pot of gold through external aggression, and only the collective contribution of the internal people can complete the industrialization of the country.
Solar manufacturing would not have a chance in Germany in the long run. China is just bigger and are able to produce massive amounts for significantly lower costs.
If tariffs were high enough it wouldn't have matter.
@@Alaryk111 you mean in Germany? Because outside that, they will have to complete evenly
@@Alaryk111 Then nobody would afford solar installation. China made it doable and profitable to install soalr while others failed. It's not a competition between China and Europe. It is about cost effectiveness for users to employ green energy
@@Alaryk111if you tariff hard transition must be subsided as it's expensive. 😂
tell that to VW or Adidas
That what happens when one tries to foster an industry on the demand side, without controlling the production side, the production can simply go away.
America said it losts solar industry to China, now the Germans said same. One simple question Who owned this industry? Who's the owner of this industry? 😂 America or Germany?
its simple, the world wants cheap solar panels and china can produce them. This doesnt make german and american solar obsolete however not even remotely. no doubt american and german panels are of much higher quality hence longer to manufacture and so the market for high quality (not cheap panels) panels cant be controlled by china because they simply dont have the quality.
I was working in the solar industry in Germany during the downfall, ie 2010 to 2013… didn’t really know the reason for it… thanks for the clarification
We had such great opportunities with solar in my relatively small town in Germany, several companies ( e. g. Würth) were either researching, manufacturing or installing them. Several of my family members worked there and suddenly it went downhill and to China. Its a shame.
I am sorry but that opportunity was ALWAYS an illusion, Germany simply did not have access to neither the mineral ressources, nor the funding to be able to dominate this industry.. GERMANY however had an insanely strong market position when it came to nuclear, making some of the worlds most cost effective nuclear power plants.. which it gave up due to irrational fears to pursue this very expensive hope for solar and wind industry dominance.
Grüße aus Schwäbisch Hall?😅
hahahaha😂😚😚
@@finnntv006 You cant "come" for nuclear energy its litteraly the power of the fucking sun, its fully available to everyone who wants to grasp it, Basic laws of physics, anyone who doubt that should probaly go retake their education.
Be thankful that your village isn't near a coal mine, otherwise it wouldn't have lasted long.
Hard working people with competent leadership always win.
The more competition in the renewable energy market the better, wishing Germany all the best!
Chinese EVs will probably do the same to European EVs
I truly fear so, but I hope not since those chinese EV are trully terrifying as fire hazards.
What are you even talking about, you make it sound as if there is something called an European ev, all I see are ICE and diesel engine cars
@@martijn3015 That's why Tesla uses Chinese battery
@@aburetik4866Tbf, Tesla and the US are building giant battery factories in the US. Hope Europe does the same
@@mharley3791 Tesla Giga Berlin factory in Europe uses BYD battery. Ford in the US wanted to use the battery technogy from CATL for its EVs, but got banned by American government.
Given the size of China & Germany, it would be inappropriate to discuss direct competition between them. Appropriate comparisons are the EU and China.But since the 2000, the gap between them is: determination, unified policy and patience, which is reflected in the competition of almost all industries, from solar cells to EV to chips...
Copy is the good excuses for losers. The real reason is you lost your creativity before your true success in industry while China is keeping creative enough to make a good industry and market.
sadly that was a facts.. China is king of copy paste 😂
@@gtr5860 , You must be on the US propaganda department's payroll. Been seeing you trolling everywhere.
@@resnica3557 im not even Westerner lol nice try btw
@@gtr5860 , Even more despicable of you to be trolling on behest of the US while you are not even westerner.
Well done story, Hugo, and best of luck with your engineering / economy journalism career!
Suntech Power went bankrupt early in 2013, and on the technical route, Suntech uses polysilicon, which is similar to German technology, but now the mainstream Chinese companies are monocrystalline silicon N-type cells, which is also the reason for the improvement of conversion efficiency in these years
Germany isn't exactly a sunny country, is it? And, getting solar energy down to price levels that makes it competitive with fossil fuels is more important for achieving Global Climate objectives. than issues surrounding the success or failure of a single economic sector in a medium sized country.
your content is impeccable.
Very well done video
Great video! This is super clear summary of a complex topic 😊
I like the Chinese because they make everything affordable
Great video
Your presentation was clear, concise, and to the point. You're a great presenter.
Germany made a decision to focus on the more profitable segment of the industry which is installation which is way more profitable than making solar panels. In Malaysia here i can buy solar panels with inverter at 30 to 40 cents per watt. Professional installar charge $1 per watt...why do u want to manufacture the solar panels with huge capital cost n depreciation within a few years
Profitable for the installers, a whole manufacturing industry is profitable for the country.
Any country can install it, but only China can manufacture it🤣👉🤡
As a Canadian who is rooting for the human race and mother earth alike, I must say thanks for US and Germany for getting the ball rolling and China for keeping it going. I have both German and Chinese panels and they are both excellent. The issue here is that to run the grid out to my house, it would cost more for the wires than it does for my large solar array and batteries.
Strong video
Great video, can you do a similar video covering perovskite?
This channel is quite knowledgeable
Because Germans and others
1. Wanted cheap stuff. Buy now, don't worry about it breaking in some months.
2. Now forgot what is quality
So germany "learned by doing" while chines "copied" what an arrogant thing to communicate but thst won't make you better
My family at the north China countryside. I inherit house from my family, but I live at BeiJing.
About 6 or 7 years ago, my parent said they spend the money that I give to them on some solar panels and build on the house proof.
The elect will transform to elect company that was owned by state. The company said at most 5 year we will cover solar panel cost, and get benefits.
The policy is made by government, and span 5 or more year. At the beginning, I think it's are scam, for get money from my parents. Finally, I must say China officer is more smart than citizens. At least i got bachelor degree, but I not have the future view.
现在回本了吗？
Worth mentioning that Spain was becoming a very powerful player in the field before 2008, but politics hindered the development of the industry after the financial crisis hit hard... and the new Spanish government aligned itself, or was forced to align itself,with Germany's. This story is now mostly forgotten but out a harsh stop to Spain's development of green energies for a decade and that allowed Germany to shine singly. Sorry not be so sorry about Germany in this particular matter.
Great stuff, let’s keep fighting in Europe to help Chinas economy! I swear Europeans must have lost so many brain cells for some reason.. your nationalistic bullshit will put us all on the sidelines while China Russia and the U.S. abuse this useless hate and fighting for their own gain.. it’s so ridiculous
In China and USA, they use more electricity during summer time due to air conditioner. This is good for solar energy. However in Germany, they don't use air conditioner that much during summer but they use heater during winter, so they use most electricity in winter. 😂
Super
Peter Altmeier (CDU - the conservatives) deserves a lot of the blame for this. He used his minister positions during the entire Merkel era to systematically slow down the deployment of renewables (especially wind & solar) through various regulations & bureaucratic hurdles. All so that gas (from Russia) could be expanded and coal plants would be kept alive as long as possible.
Merkel is to blame. She should have listened to Trump
@@jerrymiller9039 Nobody should listen to Trump ever, on any topic.
@@jerrymiller9039Trump doesn‘t know shit.
16 years of CDU/CSU, SPD and FDP are to blame. Many of our current problems go back to their massive mistakes. But I guess it‘s easier to blame the Green Party which wanted needed change more than a decade ago.
The germans should have
@@faultier1158 Foolish comment, Trumpp was totally right on Russia, even if he spits idiocy left and right.
Again, you seem to touch on the topic of industrial policy. What do you think of Macron's plan or what do you say, generally, of industrial policy and its role in the European context?
Its not being well done, and trying to reget solar industry when we're losing the car, wind, and nuclear industry is stupid
Winning and losing are extremely backward concepts. The real goal should be: to promote the continuous advancement of a technology and make it benefit the common people, so that more people can enjoy the progress and convenience brought by technology. If viewed from the perspective of national competition, every country will have times of winning or losing. If viewed from the perspective of human benefit, the best era is when technology advances and becomes civilianized.
Cheap solar has helped alot of people in the developing world especially rural Africa.
Its western mindset. If this was France or UK or America, this would have been seen as a net good for the human race but because its China, the narrative shifts to, China is a threat because its winning.
0:50 - Here you say it's worth more than €200bn annually, but on screen it says $200bn annually. I know it's just a stat to set the stage, but it would be helpful for completeness of information if the narration and video lined up.
Hugo, you are the Boss!
🎉good vedio
In NZ with not very good feed in tariff policy, solar installation is making steady progress because of plenty of sunshine, panels deliver more power than rated. When I installed my panels last year, they were Chinese panels, cheap but effective. They came with the claim that they were "German technology". Perhaps the horse has not bolted quite yet. The new problem is night/day output and large areas under cloud having an increased problematic influence on the grid. The heritage grid was not designed for large diversified inputs so legacy generation is still needed but less profitable. Energy storage is the next frontier. Solar was not the only German energy misstep, methane.
sorry,I don’t understand what is heritage grid
Nice video! But the subtitles have some serious mistakes, you should double-check them before uploading!
fwiw... @8:30 Silicone != Silicon. I suspect QCells got long term contracts for Silicon. not the one with an e.
love the video... well done.
A high cost producer can not compete against a low cost producer
in a free market. The fight can only end one way.
as the Innovention from China, they lower the cost of the solar panel and make it more electricity productivity.
that was not innovation.. China just have cheap labor😂
what does cyprus have to do with anti dumping tariffs?
This is starting to sound like the same story of the German car industry
As a matter of fact, every piece reportage like this kind in industry or technology pretty much sounds like the story of Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction fabricated by the US-led West bloc and the subsequent murder of Hussein, and the eventual pulliing out of the US military from Iraq.
Next Video : How Germany Lost Its Car Industry to China
More loss are coming because our next generation are more clever, more educated, more diligent than yours. But there will be one thing German never lost, THE ARMY OF USA
The sun doesn’t visit Germany that often
I work with installing solar panels in Sweden. I am surprised you did not mention the Swiss-German company Meyer Burger who have exploded in growth and builds the highest quality solar panels on the market right now. As a company installing on roofs here, we do not buy any Chinese solar panels, we're able to convince our customers to buy the Meyer Burger as they have longer lifespans and higher efficiency. So this story continues and Germany is regaining it's solar panel industry.
They are overpriced for the quality but supported by nationalistic marketing. It can only be successful for a short time. Meyer Burger won't survive long. Most of their components are from China anyway.
Good for you. I am glad to hear there is hope.
So you can rip off your customer with higher margin...
@@jmg8246 The purchasing of materials is done together with the customers. They see the breakdown of what they pay for and we don't forbid the purchasing of Chinese panels, if the customer insist on it, then they'll get it, with the lower price. So the answer is no. Our labor costs remain the same regardless of what solar tech the customer decides they want.
According to the IEA (Int. Energy Agency), an incredible 217 GW of PV capacity was installed in China in 2023.
*This means that China installed approx 15 times more than Germany (14,x GW)!*
China installed 148% more than in the previous year! And China exported 200 GW!
55% of global green electricity capacity (= wind, solar, hydropower, etc.) in 2023 was installed in China alone.
We are doing solar panels business from last 2005 ...we first imported German panel's but the Chinese panel's were 1/3 the prices and just as good in early times ..now are even better
The real sin was generous feed in tariffs. It should never had been given
Np matter what products and to be competitive, the prices must be cheap and the qualities must also be superb. China products have all those criteria.
not quality lol dont kid yourself. with cheap products come the tradeoff of quality. Chinese didnt do magic buddy they literally cut costs and corners to make them so cheap. So while more expensive obviously german solar panels are of much higher quality.
Solar panel is a product that pursue cost of use in a single quarter with a single function, price is everything.
Most stuff that reads :made in Germany' aint made there, the fluids were filled in Germany or packaged in Germany...
There is only one topic that is more painful than this and that's the Transrapid
I LOVE INTO EUROPE I WATCH EVERY VIDEO ❤️
Unlike Germany, China has too many vast deserts with sparse precipitation and no human habitation, which can be used to install solar panels.
There are many other ways to integrate solar panels into the ecosystem. Floating panels on lakes, for example.
this title is weird. China has 1.4 billion ppl and Germany only has 83 million. How could Germany win?
By that logic India should crush Germany and Japan lol
what logic is this? lol so India is much better than you then? cuz they have more population than China
0:00: 🌞 Germany lost its dominance in the solar industry to China, resulting in an economic failure for German industry and policymaking.
2:59: 🌞 Germany turned to China for solar cells and modules due to explosive demand in the German market.
5:50: 🌞 Chinese firms were able to innovate and improve upon machinery from US and European suppliers, thanks to access to better machines, government support, and competitive market.
8:51: 💥 The collapse in silicon prices and oversupply of solar panels led to the decline of the German solar industry.
11:52: 💡 China's solar industry emerged as the dominant player, surpassing Germany, due to strategic support and improvements in manufacturing and scaling.
Recap by Tammy AI
13:43 power of industrial policy… this is the crux of it. You could have geniuses creating revolutionary technologies… but that’s something very hard to plan for. Without an industrial, even if you have such breakthroughs, you can’t keep them.
The yellow peril was real all along? Imagine my surprise!
If I remember correctly most of the Germany is above the 45N°, while most of China is below the 45N°. Solar efficiency is negatively impacted the higher you go in terms of latitude. I think Germany probably should focus more on transmission technology utilizing offshore wind farms. Siemens is still a major player in turbine production. Current renewable energy tech largely depends on geographical environment. Wind is more suitable for Germany than solar just like you would build more solar panels than wind turbines down near the equator.
Recent news: "Siemens Energy's shares tumble as wind turbine troubles deepen". Besides the design troubles with even the bearing, Siemens magnets also need Chinese rare earths, about 3 tons per 15 mw.
However, wind turbines is also dominated by Chinese companies. China leads the world in almost all green energy technologies. From the perspective of the planet, this is not a bad thing, because only China can get the prices of these products low enough for green energy to become widespread
I remember western countries think wind energy is dirty and want to remove them due to wind turbines kill birds?
"not in my backyard attitude" already killed most of the offshore wind farms in USA...
The German solar story was ironically a lot like American fracking in the 2010s, which kept on booming despite the vanishingly distant prospect of profits and financial sustainability absent external support. The difference, like a lot of the differences between E.U. and US economic performance, is that the shale money pit was filled by a flood of cheap Wall Street liquidity, whereas only the state and conservative banks could afford to pick up the tab on incubating German solar. Private capital can remain irrational a lot longer than democratic taxpayers, which is why 15 years later shale is a consolidating, technologically mature, money-making industry-and branching out into renewable geothermal, which relies on similar tech. Of course, that’s thanks in no small part to Putin and LNG demand from Germany’s decades of penny-wise and pound-foolish energy policy blowing up (literally) in its face.
One thing to correct: the Communist party is officially called CPC (Communist Party of China), not CCP (Chinese Communist Party), but all westerners refuse to use CPC's official name, instead, they insist of using a biased name CCP, which emphasize the 'nationalism' and 'not capitalization economy' meaning. And being arrogant and disrespectful is one of the reasons why Germany failed the competition.
They call it that because they're used to the Soviet era CCCP
Do not forget that patent rights registration is NOT forever. Patent rights of any product lasts 10 years only, whether it be owned by USA or Germany. Thereafter anybody can legally produce or make similar or same items without infringement on copyright issues. Copycat ? So what ? It's all legal after 10 years ! ! Anybody can compete legally. Why not China ?
The latest research in Nature Energy and Joule readily shows the strength of China's R&D in the solar sector.
The profit is 10%. Chinese:done.
The profit is 50%. Germany:no
You revealed the gap between the two governments' industrial policies, but the core reasons for the difference did not go further.
The first is scale. China has a huge advantage in this field. It is also an R&D investor, manufacturer and market as itself.
However, as a peer EU, there are some problems in integration. The process of deepening cooperation was interrupted by a series of external interventions.
Second is independence. China has its own financial firewall, which causes them to suffer less damage in the tidal dollar reap. According to the previous plot, at that time, it should have been the US-led capital that came out to acquire companies to enjoy the feast.
The last point is that the world has underestimated China's commitment to clean energy. In the short term, the most realistic scenario is that China needs to reduce its dependence on oil and natural gas imports. This is a fundamental security issue, so even compromises on economics are acceptable. And China is an ambitious country, is it just leading in solar energy now? NO, China is speeding up on all renewable energy sources. A week ago, China's Molten-Salt Reactor obtained the license to operate. If it is verified, there will be another blue ocean.
If China develops that Molten salt reactor it is over for the hydro carbon industry
Great video! Very informative and factual.
I wonder what lessons we could learn from this to protect our industries and prevent getting out-competed. Maybe we should be more strict about selling off Intellectual properties and companies to foreign investors?
The biggest problem were double subsidies. Germany subsidized the buyer of solar, assuming the producers would then compete on production on a fair market. China then spend 100 billion in subsidies and financed the scale out of production, so their companies could produce cheaper than the Germans and still sell at the super high prices, that German buyers were able to afford due to the guaranteed feed in tarifs. Basically the German subsidizes then paid back the Chinese state investments. This example will lead to policies that will only subsidize local production, like the US inflation reduction act, while end buyer subsidizes like EV rebates will be phased out.
Germany is just another example of western uselessness. They produce expensive products yet they expect the world to buy their products no matter what.
Europeans have been living above their possibilities for a long time
只是知识产权就别搞笑了，德国企业现在有知识产权出售？还有中国不缺乏教育人才资金市场技术专利资源等。
@@Psi-Storm最大的问题是德国效率太低，可以参考特斯拉上海工厂和柏林工厂，你们或许可以在某些传统领域利用专利和知识产权来限制追赶者，但是新兴领域要求的是更好的效率从而掌握该领域的核心技术，你们或许在2008年以前掌握了一些太阳能技术，但是技术发展到今天已经经历好几次变革，而这种变革是依赖于中国的高效的工程师和科研人员，因为他们不会随便罢工而且他们工作是996，你可以按年为单位计算一下他们的工作量差距。
@Psi-Storm The problem with the West is whenever China overtakes the West in ANY field, it is ALWAYS because China has supposedly given unlimited subsidies.
If it was one or two fields, ok I'll assume you are not making things up. But it's every field that I look at!!!
If you can dominate the market in every field by giving out subsidies, EVERY country in the world would have done that!
Unless the West wakes up and actively go and search for answers, and start to objectively assess what you see, the west will forever believe everyone else is dumb except yourself, and that others can only do anything well by throwing unlimited money onto unlimited fields.
Remind me the same pattern that Imperial China expanded with: Population Advantage! Even from the very beginning of Chinese history, Chinese always had a shocking population scale compared with surrounding tribes which allowed them to gradually become the majority of nearby areas and assimilated surrounding tribes.
你错了，占中国人口绝大部分的汉族人最初是由羌族人和东夷族混血诞生的，刚开始人口并不比其他部落多，是中国人的祖先通过一次又一次的战争才发展起来
And that comes from the family-centric philosophy that is still present today.
Germany never lost its solar industry to China, Germany never produced anywhere remotely close to the amount of solar China's building, China didn't make Germany solar more expensive, China just gave people a cheaper choice.
Totally absent from this video is discussion on the loss, failures & consolidation of the Chinese solar industry. These losses were not magically absorbed by the Chinese government, merchant banks including Western banks funded consolidation and eventually led to a healthy industry.
china breaks through has left Germany behind, it is not copy cat . it is impossible to copy advance technology from germany or u.s as they have code and materials ingriedients. But china learned alot of skills from germany battery technologies.
Raising tariffs without authorization violates WTO regulations.
More importantly, if every country sets up "tariff barriers" against "free trade", then it will return to the world before World War II.
What is really important is to improve the competitiveness of our products. Better products and lower costs will benefit the whole world.
US don't give a flying eff to the WTO with regards to tariffs and sanctions..
These people are all about freedom and free market until someone comes and defeats them in their own game. Now we see the hypocrisy it was freedom but for me, not for you
Germany depended on subsidies and never drove the cost down. China used subsidies to focus on scale and cost reduction.
When I was playing EU4, my favorite regime was autocracy, because I could control everything. Of course, I definitely wanted my country to become better and better. Of course, democracy is fairer and requires less ability of leaders, so there is less chance of low attribute leaders, but this will also be confused by the endless needs of different classes of people.
when germany decided to put an end to nuclear power in 2011, they partly filled that gap with increased coal production, while at the same time cutting funds to solar energy. funfact: these coal companies are not profitable. they are held afloat by goverment subsidies, which then are used to pay lobbyists to recieve more government subsidies.
but the solar companies are the liability in this scenario, sure.
PV’s being manufactured from coal generated electricity for the win
I LOVE MADE IN CHINA❤❤❤ PRODUCTS.
HIGH QUALITY AND CHEAPER SOLAR PANELS WITHOUT CHINA I WOULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN MY IRRIGATION SYSTEM PROYECT AND PURCHASE IN MY LITTTLE RANCHITO IN THE BEAUTIFUL COASTS OF MY COUNTRY MEXICO ❤.
TTTHANKS CHINA❤
在中国，所有的关于视频制作的技术都是免费的，只要你愿意，你可以从网络上完整的学习任何一门视频和动画的制作技术
Cutting edge tech is called TOPCon and the EU companies are behind on this if they are even trying. They may still be using PERC technology.
But is it really just good industrial policies? What about the experienced technocrats who had bold visions even when solar wasn't mature?
I know we all love democracy, but a popularity contest doesn't always give us the best politicians.
The same will happen to electric cars.
China is already world leader in battery technology and evs.
Wait 20 years and the same video can be made for the european car industry.
I'm not so convinced. Chinese ICE cars never made inroads into europe, I doubt their EV's will.
Japanese and american car industries are way more behind so i wouldnt say that yet
20yrs is actually too far, more like 2030. These guys are basically sleep walking into their own demise
Who s the Guy at 4:38?
It's just the survival of the best value!!
it is ok, Chinese manufactory is building some new solar factories in Germany.
I think everyone in Germany should cut power consumption to 10001.001 Mah to regain it's Renewable energy status
I had hoped Germany got out of solar because solar for Europe is just a stupid idea. The geography works against solar at almost every point except some parts of southern Europe.
If Europe wants to decarbonize and isn’t going to use nuclear, it needs to build a shit ton more offshore wind turbines and pace them in the North Sea, the south of France, off the west coast of Spain, in the Aegean, and then some onshore where they can find it.
Give up on solar it can’t compete with wind for Europe.
Unfortunately nuclear power is not viable economically
Solar and wind aren't competing. Both energies are negatively correlating. In winter when pv production is low, wind is strong, while in summer wind production suffers, there is even more wind in the night. You are also wrong with the statement that pv makes no sense in Germany. Even here it's the cheapest form of producing electricity. Yes, you can produce more with pv in south Spain or Morocco, but then you have to build new powerlines to get the electricity to Germany, which cost more than just building 40% more pv to get the same amount of electricity. Not even talking about the transmission losses on a >2500km powerline.
@@senefelder Nuclear power is the best long-term solution, even economically speaking. The main thing is it can provide stable base loads which solar/wind cannot do (even using energy/battery storage makes these further costly vs nuclear)
@@snoopysnoops007 No. Too expensive. Not worth investing.
That depends on where in Europe, and to say we should not use solar, because of wind, is a quite close, binary view. I live in Europe, and we have 326 sun days a year. So speaking of Europe as a whole, Solar makes a lot of sense - Maybe not in Norway, but even that comes down to cost if you e.G. can implement it cheaply into Windows etc. Especially since Europe as a whole will need much more energy. Not only for EVs, but even more for desalination plants, according to how climate change kicks in. And Fusion Power is always "10 Years away".