Comments on: China is buying up a third of the world’s solar panels http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/ Sun, 19 May 2013 23:59:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Jian Yuan http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1322233 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:34:32 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1322233 12Q4 was a gold rush. The utility PPA price was rmb1-1.2/kwhr ($0.16/kwhr). It drops to from rmb0.75-1/kwhr for various regions starting this year.
Solar is still indeed a subsidy driven game. Subsidy creates demand, I think.

]]> By: Jian Yuan http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1322229 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:27:23 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1322229 The solar works well in western regions, clear air, cooler and lots of sunshine.
With the installed cost below $1.5/w, electricity cost gets below $0.10/kwhr.

]]> By: Jian Yuan http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1322225 Thu, 21 Mar 2013 21:23:07 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1322225 China is vast and the western regions are clean and full of sunshine.
The economics is getting very close since the cost per watt is getting below $1.50, with over
1600 hours annual standard sunshine, 4% interest rate, and 10 year loan, the cost of electricity is less than $0.10/kwhr!

That is already lower than selling price but higher than buying cost by the grid.

]]> By: sallynicholas http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1302913 Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:51:59 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1302913 glad you asked, I was thinking the same thing

]]> By: MW http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1302696 Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:42:15 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1302696 What does “demand” mean in the plot? Why such a huge demand in 12Q4 followed by tiny demand in 13Q1 and 2?

]]> By: Jia Ge http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1302439 Wed, 23 Jan 2013 00:20:12 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1302439 a fifth actually

]]> By: SFan http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1302386 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:23:57 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1302386 Solar will reduce smog :)

]]> By: Brian http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1302309 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:27:12 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1302309 Why is this a surprise? They have a third of the worlds population.

]]> By: Albert Hartman http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1302306 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:25:14 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1302306 Solar is an exponential technology approaching an inflection point – when it gets so cheap that cost stops being a consideration.

]]> By: EntrepreNerd http://gigaom.com/2013/01/22/china-is-buying-up-a-third-of-the-worlds-solar-panels/#comment-1302286 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:02:19 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=603163#comment-1302286 Odd, I did not think solar would work well through the wall of smog that seems to hover over the country. In all seriousness, I wonder what kind of impact smog has on solar.

]]>