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https://theconversation.com/could-spending-a-billion-dollars-actually-bring-solar-manufacturing-back-to-australia-its-worth-a-shot-226809>
"Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it
would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia,
boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those in the solar
industry, and guarding against supply chain shocks and geopolitical tension.
The announcement is big. At a stroke, the federal government is proposing to
directly invest in manufacturing the main technology Australia will rely on to
make its power. By 2050, solar should provide most of our electricity – but
only if we have enough panels.
What would that look like? Australia was once a world leader in solar energy
technology. But while our solar researchers are still highly regarded, we only
have one company commercially manufacturing solar panels. That means the
SunShot program will likely start by boosting efforts to make modules here
using imported cells and module components, before building out the supply
chain to make glass for the panels, aluminium frames and, eventually, the solar
photovoltaic cells themselves and the pure polysilicon needed to make them.
If we had a solar manufacturing industry able to make a gigawatt’s worth of
panels annually, we would create around 750 jobs and meet about 20% of our
current demand for solar. More jobs would come as the ecosystem grows,
including manufacturing glass and aluminium frames.
Critics will say it’s pointless to compete with China’s dominant renewable
energy industry. But as climate change worsens and global efforts to go green
intensify, we can’t rely on a single country. The backdrop, of course, is the
increasing popularity of reshoring, where Western countries use public funding
to try to bring back manufacturing from nations such as China, as the United
States is aiming to do with its mammoth Inflation Reduction Act."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
