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China’s carbon neutral goal
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China’s solar exports rose 60 per cent to US$28 billion last year, made light of Covid-19 pandemic and US tariffs

  • Country’s annual output of polysilicon, silicon wafers, solar cells and PV modules also rose
  • Relatively rapid expansion in the renewables sector still to come in 2022: Xiamen University professor

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A photovoltaic solar panels factory in Ningbo, in China’s Zhejiang province. Photo: Reuters
Yujie Xue

China’s export of solar photovoltaic (PV) products increased by about 60 per cent to US$28.4 billion dollars last year, the country’s ministry of industry and information technology said on Tuesday.

Its annual output of polysilicon, silicon wafers, solar cells and PV modules also rose, by 27.5 per cent to 505,000 tonnes, 40.6 per cent to 227 gigawatts (GW), 46.9 per cent to 198GW and 46.1 per cent to 182GW, respectively, year on year, the ministry said.

The ministry attributed the increased volume of exports to a rising demand for solar products globally, which was driven by the need to fight climate change everywhere.
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The domestic PV industry has “rooted itself in carbon peaking and carbon neutrality progress, seized the opportunities for development and overcame the adverse effects of the ongoing pandemic, grim economic situations and international trade barriers”, the ministry said in a release posted on its website.

The sector might have kicked-off China’s 2021-2025 five-year development period on a high note, but the data follows closely announcements by governments in the United States and India that they will impose higher tariffs on imported solar products from China and other countries to boost their domestic production.

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This month, US President Joe Biden announced he would extend tariffs imposed by former president, Donald Trump, on most solar panel and cell imports from China and other countries for four more years. He, however, exempted from tariffs the so-called bifacial solar panels, which are widely used in large-scale utility projects, in a nod to his efforts to combat climate change and boost clean energy.
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