Ramping Renewables-China's Boom-Bust Bid to Make Solar Power Big

In less than a decade, China has become the world's largest maker of solar panels. Now China's solar industry is bleeding - the result of a too-fast expansion, a global recession, and a pullback in government subsidies from Europe, traditionally the world's largest solar market. China's furious ramp-up of solar-panel manufacturing has slashed the cost of solar power from the Bay Area to Berlin. Yet it has infuriated politicians in the U.S. and Europe, who contend China is undercutting their domestic solar-panel industries in violation of international trade rules. As the battle rages, some of China's dominant solar-panel companies are scrambling to stay alive. They're hunting for new money-making opportunities, including building solar farms in the U.S. In this conversation, top executives from two leading Chinese solar companies survey their industry's troubles, assess its prospects, and consider the future of solar power around the world.

 

Speaker: Terry Wang, Trina Solar; Peter Xie, GCL Solar Energy