A day after American and Chinese solar stocks went in opposite directions thanks to the U.S....

This news story has 2 comments:

Register or Login to rate comments »

VanGoghs Fields Comments (6)
 
They are trading down because there's no getting around the fact that Obama sold out the entire US solar industry—consumers, manufacturers, suppliers and installers alike. When will he learn that you cannot dictate a market. You have to win a market with superior products at a price that matches.
18 May 2012, 12:35 PM Reply Like

tlh129 Comments (2)
 
This is bigger than the president. One industry has been singled out, in a time of still high oil prices, yet a suspiciously low natural gas price and seemingly neutral EPA under a democratic administration. The bigger picture seems to be that despite the number of articles I have read about solar not being able to compete, panels were still selling as they approached numbers a true average American can afford. The lower the panels (and systems) can be installed for, the more Americans will install, even in a recession. The increase in volume would have been good for everyone including the American companies if they had some type of true backing by our government and got serious about not keeping panels at a luxury price while attempting to promote savings 5 and 10 years out. These tariffs are only focused on one industry a green industry, and that is sad. $.50/watt would not have been been for industry here, because it would have really created many jobs and probably would have had a contagious positive effect from batteries for storage to new HVAC systems because homeowners would have spent the savings on those items. I don't believe Chinese companies could have ran American businesses out of the game just by "flooding the market", they would have to flood the market with a product good enough to go on a roof. Also when it is all said in done, the installers are usually buying the panels and not the consumers. The installers pass that savings to the consumer. Will the gains from the tariffs be passed to the installers and consumers since the playing field has been leveled? That is under an assumption that the Chinese can even maintain their market share here in the U.S. after these tariffs, right? Better tariffs would be on customer service (call center) and IT industries, that is where we are really getting hosed.
19 May 2012, 02:18 PM Reply Like