Posts tagged China

China Blocks a US Solar Supplier

In what appears to be no-win situation for the American company First Solar, a Mongolian order to provide panels for a giant solar plant has been squashed by the Chinese government.

The order was written in November of 2009 to great fanfare, coinciding with President Obama’s visit to China.  Only, once the US delegation left and it became time to start construction, the Chinese reviewed that order.

Now, it looks like First Solar is out, and Chinese manufacturers are in.

So, call your Congress person and demand that the US implement a huge tax on Chinese panels coming into the US.  That will make China really think before they close out US manufacturers from their marketplace.

Chinese General Wants to Breathe

The Chinese two-star General Liu Yazhou said in Hong Kong’s Phoenix magazine that China must reform or perish, reported the Sydney Morning Herald on August 11. Liu said a social system will inevitably perish if it “fails to let its citizens breathe freely and release their creativity to the maximum extent, and fails to place those who best represent the system and its people into leadership positions”.

Liu thought that The United States has succeeded because of its “long-surviving rule of law and the system behind it.” China’s rise is unsustainable without democracy, he asserted, adding that “a transformation from power politics to democracy” will occur in the next 10 years.

(Did he mean “breathe” literally?  Let’s hope so!)

Wind Farm in Texas Made in China?

A 600 megawatt wind farm (about 300 turbines) slated to be commissioned next year will be built primarily with Chinese components.  This is not surprising. 

The fact that US companies make poor competitors in the wind space is a result of uneven and poorly executed US energy policy formulated during the Bush/Cheney “oil guys” years.  

The US has some of the best wind resource in the world, and potentially some of the best demand for wind energy.   In contrast, America is losing miserably in turbine manufacturing volumes.  Out of the top ten global wind turbine manufacturers, only one is based in the US, and that is General Electric.

Fortunately, investors can put their money behind Chinese companies that are winning business such as this new wind farm in Texas: A-Power (APWR) is supplying the components, and you can buy their stock right here on the NASDAQ exchange.

It is ironic that China has largely pushed out most foreign wind competitors in their domestic market, because they see the future globally with wind and want to foster a strong local industry.  On top of this, China is investing $34.5 billion in low carbon technologies this year, while the US is coming in around half of that at $18.6 billion.

As the US continues to focus on wars in the Middle East to protect its oil supplies, China is winning the battle to lead the next generation of renewable energy technologies.

Which country should you be investing in?