China poised to see $60B in solar revenues

The growth of the Chinese solar manufacturing industry has been truly spectacular, ever since the country decided to make solar energy a focus industry in the last 2000s. Massive capital investments through cheap loans and incentives has made China the leader in global solar manufacturing with a huge margin. The low costs of Chinese companies has made other players leave the industry. Many countries have imposed duties on Chinese solar imports, to prevent the complete decimation of their local industries. Only a few USA and European players have survived the Chinese onslaught, despite hundreds of companies entering the sector during the 2008-2010 boom period.

The Chinese solar industry has reduced costs through intense competition to such a level, that now solar energy is competing with fossil fuels in the electricity industry. Most major forecasters now predict that solar energy will become the main source of electricity growth around the world, over the next 20 -50 years.

China clocked a turnover of over $30 billion during the first half of 2015, which is an increase of almost 40% over first half of 2014. With the second half being traditionally stronger than the first half for the solar industry, I expect that more than $60 billion will be the turnover of the industry in the second half.

Not the margins are quite low in the manufacturing industry, as cut-throat competition in the local Chinese market have led to bankruptcies of even the large Chinese companies such as Suntech and LDK. The industry has been rapidly commodotized like steel and shipbuilding by the Chinese overinvestment. This has benefited consumers globally by leading to solar panel prices falling by more than 80% since 2008.