Chinese solar businesses hailed progress in combating cutthroat competition that has sent prices for panels plummeting, but which has also left several companies on the brink of collapse.
The firms debuted an industry-wide consolidation fund, which aims to use resources provided by major solar manufacturers to buy up and subsequently close down smaller, less competitive producers. But analysts at Trivium, a research firm, noted that several challenges meant “the final outcome may prove underwhelming.”
Chinese solar panel manufacturers dominate the global landscape, but have been locked in a brutal price war in recent years that has led to huge overcapacity, with Chinese firms at one point producing twice as many panels as overall global demand.