There is a lot of talk about bringing back #solar production to #Europe and the #US. What is needed is an @Airbus type response with cross-border and industry co-operation a must otherwise all attempts will be a failure. Let me explain why? 
1. It is the size of the #solar industry and the capital ($50bn) and resources needed to scale and be competitive. This year the #solar market will be around 300GW, up from 180GW last year. The #solar industry will use as much glass in the next 12 months as #Europe produces.
2. The scale of the Fab4: LONGi Solar, JA Solar, Jinko Solar Co., Ltd. and Trina Solar basically control the world market for #solar modules. By the of this year, the four of them will have production capabilities of circa 275GW with the plans to add 140GW next year.
3. Both #Europe and #US have shown themselves incapable of keeping up with the #Chinese when it comes to scaling production of anything hardware related over the next decade. Only one Western solar supplier First Solar has survived the Chinese onslaught.
Getting to scale in #solar means getting to 50GW of production capacity within 24months. Nothing else will be sustainable and this requires a gigantic cross border and industry co-operation, as well as some form of technological advantage. Otherwise don’t bother!
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
