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Why kill the solar industry?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by pilotgrrl, Jan 22, 2018.

  1. pilotgrrl

    pilotgrrl Senior Member

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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    he wants u.s. solar manufacturers to thrive?:cool:

    his could be elon musks big opportunity to build a solar panel factory.
     
    #2 bisco, Jan 22, 2018
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 22, 2018
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  3. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    Come to think of I never saw solar panels on Tesla's gigafactory.
     
  4. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    We tried to build solar panels in the US once upon a time....

    As far as 'killing the industry?"

    I really doubt that.
    Dot.gov is still giving kickback money to solar investors, not to mention state money that's being handed out.
    If solar is ever going to be a .....(sorry!)..........bright idea, then it is going to have to stand on its own as something that only a complete MORON would NOT do.

    See Also:
    LED bulbs.

    I do not see those being subsidized any longer, and not many people are buying incandescent bulbs because you don't need a calculator to noodle out which one is cheaper.

    Patience.
     
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  5. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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  6. bhtooefr

    bhtooefr Senior Member

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    They're foreign-owned US companies, and one of them is even Chinese-owned.
     
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  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    who gets the tariff money?
     
  8. bhtooefr

    bhtooefr Senior Member

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    The Federal government, AFAIK.
     
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    thanks, good for the debt anyway.
     
  10. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    Too many hidden players to figure out the end game.
     
  11. Zythryn

    Zythryn Senior Member

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    Elon already thought of that. Although more because it needed to be done, not because of tariffs.
    Tesla Starts Production of Solar Cells in Buffalo - Bloomberg

    Production started months ago, and will ramp up to 1GW production capacity in 2019 and eventually 2GW.
    Although that may be accelerated now.
     
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  12. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    'one gigawatt is like eliminating a nuclear or coal fired power plant every year', amazing!
     
  13. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    PV tariff appears to be set at 30% for all imported panels. So, manufacturers in Germany, Japan, India, Taiwan, Malaysia, Spain, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Australia, Italy, and S. Korea will be affected. In addition to those based in PR China, which appear to produce 40% of global panels.

    All this is stated as a means to combat dumping of panels by PR China. Which they may or may not be doing. But let's say they are. US manufacturers (mainly SunPower and First Solar) will have domestic market to themselves. Other countries will ingest global panel supply unencumbered by US tariff. So, other countries will get to grow their PV gen capacity, with Chinese govt partially paying for it. Which is what dumping means.

    We can imagine benefits for US manufacturers, and damage to PV installers and system integrators. It is a transparent way of 'holding back the flood' of renewable energy which will benefit fossil fuel burners. For the moment.
     
  14. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

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    I believe Musk is making them in Buffalo NY too for his solar roofing.
     
  15. drysider

    drysider Active Member

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    Next will be the tax credits. It is the same program used by Reagan in the '80s to kill the alternative energy industry. Solar is starting to seriously compete with more traditional energy producers.
     
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  16. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Tax credits and other favorable treatments are what they are. For both renewable and fossil-E industries. Either or both may change in future. In my view it would be regrettable but possible for renewables to cease and fossils to persist. We'll just have to wait and see now much money each brings to (or under) the table.

    Anyone who honestly promotes US employment growth would have a hard time hating renewables while loving fossils. But that may be just too political to consider here.
     
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  17. Zythryn

    Zythryn Senior Member

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    Except this time they are too late.
    Unsubsidized wind is cheaper than coal.
    Unsubsidized Solar is getting close.

    The loss of tax credit would slow down the train, but it wont stop it. And standing in the way of a train is not a good idea...
     
  18. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Z-man always gets a like. I'm such a pushover.

    Problem is we don't know cost of unsubsidized coal. Nobody does, because nobody accounts for the lungs and rivers.
     
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  19. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Responding to the thread title question, nobody is killing solar because nobody can. Certainly not the tied-for-fourth manufacturing country which currently has 11% of global installed nameplate power.
     
  20. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    The 80's @15. Ah memories. PV panel prices fell from $24/watt to 8 during that decade. Now they stand at 0.45 or 0.30 depending on who you ask.
     
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