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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
China’s solar eclipse of US and European PV
13/12/2023
8 min read
It is no secret that China dominates global solar power production. Outstanding research and mass-scale production of photovoltaics (PV) has been supported by massive subsidies, with the result that China significantly outstrips solar PV production in the US and Europe. Selwyn Parker gives an insight into how China got its lead.
Few outside the solar industry may have heard of China’s Longi Green Energy Technology, but it is possibly the most transformative manufacturer of solar technology in the world. And that’s just the start of the story of China’s success in this important area of renewable energy today.
Already the biggest solar producer globally, with plants in China, Vietnam, Malaysia and, coming soon, India and the US, Longi sees itself as being in the vanguard of the technology for years to come.
In August 2023, for example, it started delivering the energy for China’s largest pilot green hydrogen project by deploying a combination of solar and electrolyser technologies. Nothing if not ambitious, Longi President Li Zhenguo predicted earlier this year that, if his and other Chinese solar producers continue to expand at the current rate, the domestic industry’s total production capacity could hit 1,000 GW by the end of 2024.