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Comment by bryanlarsen | Hacker News Reader

None of those are the reasons that Chinese solar panels are cheap. They don't use rare earths. They don't use much labor.

They're cheap because they're made in massive "lights out" highly automated factories.

Access to cheap capital and automation. Those are supposed to be American strengths, and China is beating America at its own game.

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Frankly, the reason China is the last man standing on solar was their aggressive subsidy in the 2010s. Killed all of the American and European manufacturers, then the subsidy ended and they were the last man standing.

The other things you are said are also true, I just wanted to provide a little historical context.

Chinese subsidies were smaller than European and American subsidies on a relative basis. (but not absolute). The difference was that European and American subsidies also subsidized Chinese panels.

Interestig, so you could say that the European and American governments share blame in this development. A shame.

Depends what your goals are. We're sitting in a fabulous position now. Solar is by far the cheapest energy available, which is and will continue to accelerate our transition away from fossil fuels. China is essentially giving the panels away for basically no profit, and supporting very few jobs doing so. America & Europe are getting huge benefits for those subsidies.

Never thought of it that way. I like the positive framing.

Oftentimes I worry about industrial pollution, unsafe and unfair working conditions, and a loss of relevance in high technology.

But in this case, the factories are not widely staffed - so there's reduced chances of accidents.

The future is now, and I'm the old man.

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