I guess we'll be buying our solar panels from China.

goof2 · 02-01-2010, 11:55 AM

The article says China is the largest manufacturer of wind turbines and solar panels. It does not say if this is due to production by China's domestic companies or from foreign companies basing production there to take advantage of cheap Chinese labor. Since the only manufacturer profiled in the article is based in Denmark I suspect it is the latter.

The article also states "Although costs are falling steeply through mass production, wind energy is still 20 to 40 percent more expensive than coal-fired power. Solar power is still at least twice as expensive as coal." Part of the reason costs are falling steeply is due to cheap labor and virtually non existent regulation. I would be curious to know how cost competitive American built wind turbines and solar panels are to their Chinese built counterparts.

02-01-2010, 11:55 AM	#2
goof2 AMA Supersport Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 4,756	The article says China is the largest manufacturer of wind turbines and solar panels. It does not say if this is due to production by China's domestic companies or from foreign companies basing production there to take advantage of cheap Chinese labor. Since the only manufacturer profiled in the article is based in Denmark I suspect it is the latter. The article also states "Although costs are falling steeply through mass production, wind energy is still 20 to 40 percent more expensive than coal-fired power. Solar power is still at least twice as expensive as coal." Part of the reason costs are falling steeply is due to cheap labor and virtually non existent regulation. I would be curious to know how cost competitive American built wind turbines and solar panels are to their Chinese built counterparts.