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Happy German Unity Day (self.europe)

submitted 1 year ago by sv1sjp to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

And gave your solar industry to China. German Q Cells were smashing it.

For whatever reason, western countries did not see solar module production technology as a protected category. So when Chinese companies decided to enter the market, it was remarkably easy. They just went ahead and bought the most advanced solar cell manufacturing equipment available. Most of it from Germany. Replacing expensive German workers with cheaper Chinese ones gave Chinese companies a real price advantage - in some cases as high as 20%.

https://www.asianometry.com/p/how-china-won-the-solar-industry

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I hate that part so much. We paid a ton for the development until very recently work the EEG. And then some asshole just sells it to China for a quick buck and (then chancellor) Merkel doesn't give a fuck. 16 years of disgrace.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

the German solar industry was sacrificed to protect the access of german car manufacturers to the chinese markets.

So 5 years of BMW and VW and Audi profits were put before centuries of one of the leading future industries.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It's so wild that they just casually threw the domestic solar industry under the bus but kept subsidizing coal because of "jobs".