Price Decline in Chinese Solar Panels

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

19 hours ago, NickW said:

The glass on solar panels is somewhat more resistant than paint. 

Maybe, but sandblasting is sandblasting.  Go to a high rise in Beijing and check out the view through closed windows.  Might change your opinion.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

2 hours ago, Jorrit Himself said:

More like quadrupled. 164 GW as of last September

https://chinaenergyportal.org/en/2018-q3-pv-installations-utility-and-distributed-by-province/

I could be wrong, of course, but I'd take any statistics put out by our friends in the Middle Kingdom with a grain of....sand.

[Auson + 123]

56 minutes ago, Dan Warnick said:

I could be wrong, of course, but I'd take any statistics put out by our friends in the Middle Kingdom with a grain of....sand.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I am yet to see anything of quality ( automotive parts ) made in China.

But then again I've not taken a Tesla apart yet.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

1 hour ago, Auson said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but I am yet to see anything of quality ( automotive parts ) made in China.

But then again I've not taken a Tesla apart yet.

Oh I'm not discounting the quality of products the Chinese are capable of (depends whether or not they get the whole set of blueprints/specs!).  They can produce quality when they set their mind to it.  Many of the problems with quality that you see aren't strictly Chinese capabilities, but more of an extension of the reason they are producing the products you might be buying: Western companies came to them to get it done cheaper.  Or they set up factories with the sole purpose of copying products and doing it so much cheaper that they drive the other producers out of business.

Take coffee makers as another example.  Just about every coffee maker on the market today is made in China, no matter if they are Italian or American or German or any other they are made on contract in China.  Not only that, but all the different brands are made in the same factories.  The companies are paid to continue developing new models and upgrades to existing models and rolling out new production, in many cases they can design, test and start production runs all in a matter of a few weeks.  Since all coffee makers are about the same quality and cost, coming from the same source, there is little incentive for any one brand to outshine the others.

Everybody should take the time to watch the following video.  It is astonishing.  You'll find what I'm talking about with the coffee makers touched on in there.  1/2 a day to design a prototype!  700 units a day within a week or 2.

Factory City: EUPA . Documentary China labors and the largest factory in the world

Edited December 12, 2018 by Dan Warnick