Here in Austin, the mood amongst delegates attending Renewable Energy World Conference, North America is upbeat. The financial crisis is now mostly in the rear-view mirror of developers, who have been enjoying the Obama administration’s stimulus funding.
There are still some important issues hampering the industry, including access to cheap, long-term capital. Bankers are lending but they are a lot more selective compared to say, 2007 or 2008.
Besides funding issues, what’s also been on a lot of delegates mind is China and the very visible push this year by Chinese renewable energy companies to enter the North American renewable energy market.
And that’s what brings us to the “Chinese stand.”
One of the best-placed expo-stand at Renewable Energy World is the large, white, sleek stand of Chinese PV maker CEEG. You can’t miss it, it’s strategically anchored in the middle of the large expo center, like the updated version of the traditional “open for business” neon sign.
Inside, are sharply dressed executives, who have traveled from headquarter in Nanjing, some from Shanghai and greet visitors in a polished but somewhat broken English. One CEEG rep. tells GER that after Austin they’re packing up the stand and heading back home.
The head of an executive search firm, which works with green energy companies, visited the stand and he is impressed. He tells us that the emergence of Chinese renewable energy companies “is this year’s front page story” in the sector and is really worrying some of his European and U.S. clients.
The Obama administration is also aware of the China emergence and has made no bones that it wants to win the green race and that in that race China – not Europe — is its main competitor.
On the China / U.S. green race, General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt recently said:
The Chinese will build more nuclear plants than we will this year. The Chinese will install more wind energy than we will this year…. If we don’t get off our butts and move aggressively forward, the world is not going to wait for us.
How strong of a contender is China to win the global green race? A recent report by UBS notes that today Chinese photovoltaic panels sell for about 40 percent less than European ones. GCL-Poly Energy, a Chinese company and the world’s third-largest polysilicon maker, expects to sell the photovoltaic raw material it manufacturers for $45 (€33.36 / £29.42) per kilogram in 2011, down from over $50 ( €37/ £32.60) per kilogram, says the UBS report.
Some U.S. companies, which until recently manufactured their renewable energy products in the U.S., are heading east, to China to take advantage of these cheaper production costs. Marlboro, Mass.-based Evergreen Solar, a makes String Ribbon silicon wafers, is constructing a 100-megawatt solar panel plant in China with Jaiwei Solarchina Co., that should go live this year.
Besides cheap labor and declining prices of raw material, Chinese green energy companies, like CEEG, are also supported by cheap capital. At a panel yesterday a group of project finance bankers said they expected Chinese banks this year and in 2011 to provide lots of cheap financing to Chinese renewable energy companies, specifically to help them access the North American market
Solar developers Suntech Power and Yingli Green Energy as well as wind developer A-Power Energy Generation Systems are all ramping up their respective U.S. and Canadian operations.
Back in Austin CEEG’s marketing and sales executive are folding up their sleek expo stand today and heading back to China. But they will be back. They tell us that they are planning to attend the Intersolar trade show this July in San Francisco.