Between 2008 and 2013, China's fledgling solar-electric panel industry dropped world prices by 80 percent, a stunning achievement in a fiercely competitive high-tech market. China had leapfrogged from nursing a tiny, rural-oriented solar program in the 1990s to become the globe's leader in what may soon be the world's largest renewable energy source.
[...] China's new dominance of nearly all aspects of solar use and manufacturing—markets that are predicted to expand by 13 percent a year, according to the report—came through a "unique, complex and interdependent set of circumstances" that is not likely to be repeated.
[...] According to some veterans in the U.S. solar industry, China bought solar companies and invited others to move to China, where they found cheap, skilled labor. Instead of paying taxes, they received tax credits.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-china-is-dominating-the-solar-industry/
Wikipedia has more stats/charts
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday February 06 2017, @09:00PM
"Selling at below market values" and "subsidizing an industry with national value to help foster its development" can mean exactly the same thing.
It's hard for me to look at this and not see an up-and-coming nation trying to leapfrog the current superpower on something that will have to be done sooner or later.
That said, China absolutely has abysmal worker and environmental protections, and it's good news for everyone that their working class are starting to get enough wealth and stability to demand better treatment. Good for those workers, good for other nations that need to compete with them, good for the corporations in the long-run(though maybe not the short run)