How China came to dominate the world in solar energy

Heavy subsidies for factories and cheap land have helped it power ahead of competitors

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BEIJING might of its solar energy industry in 2023. It installed more solar panels than the United States has in its history. It cut the wholesale price of panels it sells by nearly half. And its exports of fully assembled solar panels climbed 38 per cent, while its exports of key components almost doubled.

China unleashed the full Get ready for an even bigger display of China's solar energy dominance.

While the US and Europe are trying to revive renewable energy production and help companies fend off bankruptcy, China is racing far ahead.

At the annual session of China's legislature earlier in March, Premier Li Qiang, the country's second-highest official after President Xi Jinping, announced that the country would accelerate the construction of solar panel farms, as well as wind and hydroelectric projects.

With China's economy stumbling, the ramped-up spending on renewable energy, mainly solar, is a cornerstone of a big bet on emerging technologies.

China's leaders say that a "new trio" of industries - solar panels, electric cars and lithium batteries - has replaced an "old trio" of clothing, furniture and appliances.

The goal is to help offset a steep slump in China's housing construction sector. China hopes to harness emerging industries like solar power, which Mr Xi likes to describe as "new productive forces", to reenergise an economy that has slowed for more than a decade.

The emphasis on solar power is the latest instalment in a two-decade programme to make China less dependent on energy imports.

China's solar exports have already drawn urgent responses.

In the US, the Biden administration has introduced subsidies that cover much of the cost of making solar panels and part of the much higher cost of installing them.

The alarm in Europe is particularly great.