Résumé en français : Au grand dam des États-Unis, la Chine est devenue en quelques années le premier fabricant d'équipements de production d'énergie renouvelable.

In the race to create clean energy, there is a surprise winner: China. It has been revealed that the country is the largest maker of wind turbines and solar panels; it is way ahead of Denmark, Germany, Spain and the United States. Within the last six years, China became the world's largest producer of solar energy panels, or solar photovoltaic (PV) and has installed a wind power capacity of 12,000 megawatts. Automaker BYD is now the world's second-biggest producer of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, backed by U.S. billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
In November, the Financial Times reported that China had ‘played climate cards beautifully’.
As a result, America, used to having the world’s largest markets in many industries, feels threatened. President Obama is urging American industry to step up. In his recent State of the Union speech, he told Congress: ‘I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders – and I know you don’t either’. The American market for power equipment, despite being more mature than China’s, is much smaller. Power companies in the United States often face a choice between continuing to operate the power plants using fossil fuels that are already in place, or buying renewable energy equipment. The situation is very different in China, as power companies require new equipment anyway, and they are making the most of the competitive prices of alternative energy.

To combat this, the United States is offering incentives to develop its renewable energy industry, but many experts across the globe believe that China will prevail, especially as multinational corporations, aware of the rapid growth in the market, are building state-of-the-art factories in the country. In north-eastern China, Vestas of Denmark has just installed the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturing complex. ‘Nobody has even seen such fast development in a wind market’, said Jens Tommerup, the president of Vestas China.

This change has taken place over the past few years, and China looks set to expand the industries even further this year. Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, believes that many factors have been at work. ‘Certainly the main driver has been government policy and clear signals that it has sent to the market, and I'm sure the spirit of Chinese entrepreneurs has also contributed to the rate of growth’, he said. Last year, China manufactured over 2,000 megawatts of solar panels, more than 30 percent of global production. However in 2003, China's share was merely one percent. Next on the country’s agenda is building nuclear reactors and efficient types of coal power plants. It is believed that if the current trend continues, the West may one day rely on solar panels and wind turbines from China, and will therefore be less dependent on oil from the Middle East. ‘Most of the energy equipment will carry a brass plate, “Made in China,” ’ said K. K. Chan, the chief executive of a private equity fund in Beijing. According to the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, the number of jobs in this sector is climbing by 100,000 a year.
There is a downside, however. Renewable energy may be helping China’s economy, but it is a different matter when it comes to the environment. Total power generation in the country looks likely to pass the United States in 2012, and coal will still represent two-thirds of China’s capacity in 2020. And, although costs are falling due to mass production, renewable energy is still expensive. (Solar power is at least twice as expensive as coal.) However, power generation companies have been set mandates to use more renewable energy, and there are subsidies for consumers who want to install solar panels or solar water heaters. So far, the subsidies seem to be working – at the end of last year, the number of solar water heaters in the country accounted for 76 percent of the world’s total. ‘Every country, including the United States and in Europe, wants a low cost of renewable energy,’ said Ma Lingjuan, deputy managing director of China’s renewable energy association. ‘Now China has reached that level, but it gets criticized by the rest of the world.’