Cuba is struggling with devastating nationwide blackouts as the United States’ effective oil blockade strangles fuel supplies. But this crisis may also be accelerating a China-backed clean energy revolution that’s been quietly unfolding in the Caribbean nation.
My wife used to work for a company that manufactured the glass for solar panels in the UK, but there was just no way that they could compete with Chinese prices. They would have had to have sold it below cost to match, let alone make any profit. It’s not the most labour-intensive of industries, but the energy costs are massive to melt all the glass. China has made massive investments in hydro and has a lot of cheap power for industry, which ironically means that making solar panels for green power is easier too.
Plus their questionable stance on labor standards…
It’s almost as if the Free Market isn’t at all good at finding the optimal balance at a Strategical level …
Or even a local level, at this late stage its all about lobbying for ever increasing tax breaks and subsidies.
Regulatory capture should never be a part of a “Free Market” and that is one of the reasons it is failing us