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Not actually breaking news, so I put it here under general discussion. (Original Post) generalbetrayus Yesterday OP
The War in Iran Is Causing China to Sell So Many Solar Panels That Your Jaw Will Drop usonian Yesterday #1
K & R malaise 23 hrs ago #4
Huge unintended consequence of trump's war on Iran... Wounded Bear 23 hrs ago #6
Our local grid last summer was supplying 40% Melon 23 hrs ago #2
Really. The sun is always present and the wind is always blowing? That is a surprise. NNadir 23 hrs ago #3
The auto industry used horse drawn transport in its infancy paleotn 23 hrs ago #7
Everything right now depends on fossil fuels Envirogal 12 hrs ago #12
But what happens if some hostile country closes the Straits of Wind? AZ8theist 23 hrs ago #5
reminds me justsomeguy01 20 min ago #14
If we could only harness republican wind. C Moon 22 hrs ago #8
Sorry... BurnDoubt 22 hrs ago #9
So... BurnDoubt 21 hrs ago #10
The orange dictator is using taxpayer $$ to cancel green energy projects Martin Eden 20 hrs ago #11
Yeah..But those dangerous things can fall off and fly for miles. chouchou 3 hrs ago #13

usonian

(26,435 posts)
1. The War in Iran Is Causing China to Sell So Many Solar Panels That Your Jaw Will Drop
Sat May 9, 2026, 12:51 PM
Yesterday
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21219978

(Repost)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100221208539

https://futurism.com/science-energy/iran-war-solar-china

The ongoing war on Iran may have drastically reduced the amount of oil passing from West Asia to the rest of the world, but there is a bright side, literally: surging solar panel sales.

According to Yale Environment 360, China has reached a record high for solar panel exports as suppliers scramble for oil alternatives. In March, one month into the US-Iran war that began on February 28, the People’s Republic doubled the number of solar panels it was exporting, distributing 68 gigawatts of photovoltaic cells and silicon wafers.

That’s an astonishing spike across one month — for context, the US has only an estimated 70 gigawatts of new solar generating capacity scheduled to come online across all of 2026 and 2027. According to data from the think-tank Ember Energy, China exported more solar capacity in March alone than the entire nation of Spain installed in the previous decade.

Per Ember, the banner month traces back to increased demand in Asia and Africa in particular. Across all of Africa, Chinese solar imports grew by 176 percent from February to March, while Chinese exports to the rest of Asia reached 39 gigawatts worth of capacity. In all, 55 countries set all-time records for Chinese solar purchases.


Nobel Environmental Prize for choking off the world's oil supply and skyrocketing solar adoption?

Wounded Bear

(64,555 posts)
6. Huge unintended consequence of trump's war on Iran...
Sat May 9, 2026, 01:41 PM
23 hrs ago


I hear there are spikes in EVs as well.

Melon

(1,626 posts)
2. Our local grid last summer was supplying 40%
Sat May 9, 2026, 01:03 PM
23 hrs ago

Renewable. Yearly average is 36% wind and sun. We need more of this.

NNadir

(38,476 posts)
3. Really. The sun is always present and the wind is always blowing? That is a surprise.
Sat May 9, 2026, 01:20 PM
23 hrs ago

The solar and wind industries depend on access to fossil fuels. It's why Germany funded Putin's war on Ukraine, and why German industry is weighted down under high electricity prices.

Envirogal

(322 posts)
12. Everything right now depends on fossil fuels
Sun May 10, 2026, 12:10 AM
12 hrs ago

Last edited Sun May 10, 2026, 12:56 AM - Edit history (1)

And Germany “funded Putin’s war on Ukraine”? That’s a bit of hyperbole. It’s because of the war that disrupted their access to cheap natural gas, one of their transition
fuels as they move to building more renewables.

Germany is a renewables success story as they are setting the stage for expanding infrastructure for more renewables. They were smart to get rid of their nuclear program in 2023 but the war in Ukraine brought on more expense in their fossil fuel transition so the timing was terrible for them.

justsomeguy01

(53 posts)
14. reminds me
Sun May 10, 2026, 12:31 PM
20 min ago

of 30 years ago when Harvey Wasserman liked to say something along the lines of (iirc) "the midwest is the Saudi Arabia of wind".

Apologies for whatever degree I may have misstated this.

BurnDoubt

(1,859 posts)
10. So...
Sat May 9, 2026, 03:00 PM
21 hrs ago

You’re saying the Fossil Freaks are pissed that they might get squeezed out of the Big Stinky Grift????
So unfair!
It’s astonishing that this is so transparently obvious.
At least this Iran shitshow might be the last-gasp death-rattle for this obviously obsolete not-technology… with the added bonus of bankrupting these uglyarchs.

Martin Eden

(15,848 posts)
11. The orange dictator is using taxpayer $$ to cancel green energy projects
Sat May 9, 2026, 04:01 PM
20 hrs ago

That were already underway.

chouchou

(3,270 posts)
13. Yeah..But those dangerous things can fall off and fly for miles.
Sun May 10, 2026, 09:31 AM
3 hrs ago

Now, my neighbor told me that the inter-web said those fans can blow houses down and they
killed hundreds of inocent children while play under those devil things.
And they cause Cancer !!!
As for those Sun things they get hot and burn the roofs off. (I saw it on Fox News.)

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