In a new report the IAE concludes that the growth of renewable energy continues to accelerate, partly due to the energy crisis and geopolitical unrest. For the first renewable energy, led by solar energy, will grow as fast in emerging countries in Africa and Asia as in the West, excluding China.
However, the vast majority of solar panels comes from China, the only country that controls the entire production chain of solar panels an even has an almost monopoly. But that may change, the IEA predicts that Inda will become an increasingly important competitor in the coming years.
That would be great news for Europe, which saw almost its entire solar panel industry wiped out by Chinese competition and is now dependent on Chinese producers for the purchase. India is already collaborating with Europe to build an alternative value chain for solar panels.
The Indians can hardly do otherwise, given that the US has increasingly closed its market.
India’s solar panel production is growing rapidly, but it does not have full control over all parts of the process. For some components and the machinery to manufacture India still has to turn to China.
However, according to the IEA improvement is in sight. India could expand its entire production chain by 2031.
Whether that happens depends in a major way on the economy and the geopolitical situation
