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Comment by modo_mario | Hacker News Reader

In the end you have to replace those panels and nobody in your country now produces them or has the incentive to start producing them unless they not only drop the subsidies but sell well over market value.

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In 25 years, those panels will still be producing 80% of their starting value. Imagine what you can do with 25 years of energy independence.

Well it’s about 40 years since the US started getting stupid about foreign trade and things are not going so well here now. Send help.

It would be great if they performed that badly. If my panels drop below 87.5% in 30 years they get replaced under warranty for a second 30 years of use. These are even the cheap panels. Amazing how much better the tech is now.

You have 25 - 50 years. Put your STE people to work. CSIRO is probably a decent org, give them a Manhattan project?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSIRO

CSIRO and the University of New South Wales are the source of today's cutting edge solar panel tech. It's just manufacturing went to China and that is the challenge. It'll be met when China becomes totally untenable as a trading partner.

what if you develop manufacturing capabilities during the 30 years lifespan of the panels?

We're well into that 30 years. You'd have to start doing so sincerely and i don't see nor expect it.

The alternative for most countries except a handful is that they continue to import oil from the two dozen-ish odd countries who export it.

The policy relevant question then boils down to, in two decades how many countries will be producing enough solar panels to export it? How many will be friendly to my country?

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