纽约时报中文网 - 英文原版-英China Rules Solar Energy but Its Industry at Home Is in Trouble
July 29, 2024 2 min 334 words
纽约时报这篇报道的主要内容是：中国在太阳能领域占主导地位，但国内产业面临困难。报道提到中国拥有全球一半以上的太阳能电池产能，但同时也指出中国国内太阳能企业正面临产能过剩债务问题和海外市场的竞争。报道援引专家意见，指出中国太阳能产业的困境源于政府补贴的减少和海外市场保护主义的增加。 评论：纽约时报这篇报道有一定道理，中国太阳能产业的确面临挑战。但报道也存在一定偏见和误导。首先，报道过度强调政府补贴减少对产业的影响，而忽略了产业自身发展的不完善。实际上，中国太阳能产业的产能过剩和债务问题也反映出产业内部存在盲目扩张和低端竞争。其次，报道没有全面考虑中国能源结构转型和绿色发展的大背景。中国致力于发展清洁能源，太阳能产业面临的挑战也是能源转型过程中必然会遇到的问题。最后，报道没有提到中国在太阳能技术上的进步和创新，给读者一种中国太阳能产业只有规模没有技术的印象。综上所述，该报道对中国太阳能产业面临的挑战有一定描述，但存在一定偏见，未能全面客观地反映中国太阳能产业的现状和发展趋势。
Over the past 15 years, China has come to dominate the global market for solar energy. Nearly every solar panel on the planet is made by a Chinese company. Even the equipment to manufacture solar panels is made almost entirely in China. The country’s solar panel exports, measured by how much power they can produce, jumped another 10 percent in May over last year.
But China’s solar panel domestic industry is in upheaval.
Wholesale prices plummeted by almost half last year and have fallen another 25 percent this year. Chinese manufacturers are competing for customers by cutting prices far below their costs, and still keep building more factories.
The price slashing has taken a severe toll on China’s solar companies. Stock prices of its five biggest makers of panels and other equipment have halved in the past 12 months. Since late June, at least seven large Chinese manufacturers have warned that they will announce heavy losses for the first half of this year.
The turmoil in the solar energy sector amid enormous factory capacity and booming exports highlights how China’s industrial policymaking works. The government decided 15 years ago to put extensive support behind solar power, and then let the companies claw it out. Beijing has shown a high tolerance for letting firms stumble and even fail in large numbers.
Something similar is happening in the automotive sector. Annual car sales in China are around 25 million, more than any other country but barely half the country’s ability to make vehicles. So automakers in China are now following the solar industry’s lead in cutting prices sharply and ramping up exports.