Every day of the year, Australia installs about 1,000 rooftop solar systems; those black rectangles appearing on rooftops everywhere represent billions of dollars spent on silicon, glass and a little bit of metal.
Over 20 years ago, the Harbour City was preparing to host the Olympic Games and the BP Solar factory was in full swing, making solar cells that were assembled into panels and then installed at the athletes' village, promoted as one of the largest solar suburbs in the world. "The factory was big on the global scale at the time," says Nigel Morris, a solar industry veteran who worked for BP Solar in those years.But less than a decade after the 2000 Olympic Games, the factory closed.
"I went to knock on Martin Green's door and he came out and I said, 'Can I find a job here?'," Dr Shi recalls, on a WeChat call from China.Dr Shi completed a PhD under Professor Green in record time and then stayed on in Sydney to do more research.At the time, China produced no solar panels."When I was in Australia, I was just a scholar and a student. I really didn’t have much confidence in running a business over there.
. Globalism seeks to give Aussie jobs to China so that Aussie millionaire business owners can get richer. That is the purpose of globalisation. .
Different to Japan, China has a huge domestic market. Which can cultivate any new industry. Take the LED as example, Japan used to be top player. China can't even make good CRTs. With consistent investment, China is the top player. Sharp was sold to Taiwan.
It took 4 years to build a 4 lane bridge down the road while it took China less than 2 weeks to build a hospital.
1/2 The role of government is very important. After the first solar manufacturing company Suntech died, the government realised the prospect of solar electricity and began to subsidy solar industry so that it has got time and resources to improve its efficiency.
Because the LNP is corrupt, loves coal and ignores climate change.
purtill_james May 2012: SilexSolar (former BP solar) cited insurmountable competitive pressures faced from overseas module manufacturers, in particular Chinese panel makers and the unstable policy environment created by the state and federal governments
Conservative ideology took over.
Another factor is what could be envisaged as a hostile takeover of the Aust solar industry by BP (ie: BP Solar) Is a fossil fuel company really interested in a BIG solar industry for australia? Or are they interested in a small one for greenwashing purposes?
Because, stupidly, we all thought China was a reliable trade partner who would “play by the rules”. Instead, it is a fascist overlord. So, now, let's take our destiny into our own hands.
Expose the cost of Chinese labour and it all makes sense.
If it can't be grown or mined government & private sector don't want to know about it. Straight to the too hard basket.
Because there's not enough sun in Australia... Oh wait... Because the government knows coal is the future. Don't be scared of it. It'll always be fashionable.
Labour costs has killed most non subsidised industries