In the U.S., when the topic of clean energy comes up, we like to debate concepts like climate change or global warming, turning it into a political debate more than a strategic one. Subsidies to industries such as wind or solar, no matter how small, take criticism from politicians and the media while the government continues to subsidizes oil, gas, coal, and nuclear production to the tune of billions of dollars each year. We neglect to account for externalities such as the cost of war ships keeping the Suez Canal open when Iran threatens to close it, oil spills inland and offshore, the wars in Iraq, and the limited liability given to the operators’ nuclear plants. If Fukishima happened here, it would be no problem for U.S. companies — Uncle Sam would pick up the tab.
In China, the energy debate is very different. When China sees its imports of coal rising and dependence on foreign oil growing, it springs into action. Not by screaming, “Drill, baby, drill,” but by investing billions of dollars in home-grown energy sources. Yes, I’m talking about clean, renewable energy, and China’s investment in these energy sources make U.S. subsidies look like the half-hearted effort they are.
Building a homegrown industry
China has put tens (maybe hundreds) of billions of dollars into building a renewable manufacturing industry, and it started long before the U.S. even noticed the emergence of wind and solar power. Sinovel Wind Group was founded in 2005 and quickly became the third largest wind turbine manufacturer behind Vestas and General Electric Company (NYSE:GE). It has plans to surpass these companies within the next two years and is fueled by funding from Chinese state-owned banks. Goldwind, Guodian, and China Ming Yang Wind Power Group Ltd (NYSE:MY) have also sprouted up in China, pushing European and American companies out of the wind market.
Where the U.S. saw risk in clean energy manufacturing (see Solyndra), China saw opportunity.
Putting their money where the future is
Unlike the U.S., China also has a national goal when it comes to solar power, the fastest-growing renewable energy source. It plans to install 40 GW of solar by 2015, 30% more than what was installed globally in 2012. To put that number into some context, solar installations in the U.S. grew 76% last year and still reached only 3.3 GW. We would have to nearly double solar installations annually to reach 40 GW in installations over the next three years.
When you put these figures into dollars, China’s green energy dominance is even more staggering. Keep in mind that the U.S. economy is more than twice as big as China’s when you read the following data from a report released by Pew Charitable Trusts and Bloomberg New Energy Finance earlier this week.
China invested $65 billion into wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources in 2012, 20% growth from 2011. The U.S. invested $35.6 billion, down 37% from a year earlier. As a percentage of the economy, China’s investment in clean energy is nearly four times as large as that of the United States.
