Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

Can't Stop the Shining

Foreign Policy: Solar power is in the middle of a breathtaking global surge. In 2017, countries around the world installed nearly 100 gigawatts — fifty Hoover Dams — worth of solar capacity. Investors poured over $160 billion into solar projects, more than any other electricity source, clean or dirty. And the price of solar power plunged to once-unthinkable lows around the world. In Mexico, Chile, and Saudi Arabia, the price of solar electricity fell to around 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, less than half that of power from coal or natural gas plants.

Supportive government policies have helped encourage the boom in solar energy. Developed countries such as Germany footed the bill for the early scale-up of the solar industry in the 2000s. Then China lavished billions on its domestic solar producers, creating an unrivaled manufacturing industry, and set sky-high mandates for the deployment of solar panels, making it the world’s largest solar market today. It is tempting to continue with more of the same.

That would be a grave mistake. Solar power is no longer a cottage industry, and the public policies that it will need to thrive over the coming decades are very different from those that kick-started its growth.

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