![]() ![]() tariffs on Chinese solar panels and cells, Chinese companies have set up factories for these parts in other countries. China’s cheaper polysilicon production has forced the shutdown of several factories that use power sources with lower carbon emissions than Chinese producers. Wacker Chemie AG, the West’s largest producer of solar-grade polysilicon, pays up to four times as much for power at its factories in Germany compared with Chinese producers in Xinjiang.Ĭhina is home to most of the companies that slice polysilicon into wafers, package the wafers into cells and assemble the cells into panels. Since electricity is 40 percent of the operating cost of manufacturing polysilicon, cheap coal-fired electricity is a goal of its producers. To support polysilicon manufacturers, China built coal-burning power plants in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. Polysilicon factories refine silicon metal using a process that consumes large amounts of electricity, making access to inexpensive power a cost advantage. In July, the Department of Labor recognized Chinese polysilicon as a resource “produced by child labor or forced labor.” Similar amendments would prohibit federal funding from being used to buy “Chinese-made low-emission buses, ferries or vehicles.”Ĭhina Dominates Global Solar Markets Using Cheap CoalĬhina’s low-cost, coal-fired electricity has provided the country’s solar-panel manufacturers a competitive advantage, allowing them to dominate global markets. The amendment specifically targets China’s dominance of the solar-panel market. One such amendment would prevent federal funds from being spent on products or resources made from forced labor. In order to stop the infrastructure bill from aiding China, several amendments were introduced. The Democratic Republic of the Congo where China owns eight of the 14 largest cobalt mines accounting for about half of the country’s output, produces 70 percent of the cobalt needed using slave and child labor. Further, China controls over 80 percent of the critical minerals used to create batteries. The transition to electric buses and ferries that Biden wants also benefits China because China produces more than 70 percent of all electric-vehicle batteries compared to 9 percent produced in the United States. In 2019, about one-third of the polysilicon, a material used to construct solar panels, came from the Xinjiang province of China, where human rights of Uyghur Muslims are reportedly being violated. President Biden’s infrastructure package, which Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wants to pass this week, includes $7.5 billion for transitioning to electric buses and ferries and incentives for solar power.
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