The Hill, BY SHARON UDASIN AND SAUL ELBEIN – 12/15/21 04:34 PM EST
Today is Wednesday. Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup.
A major Indian solar developer has begun building its own solar panel factories in an attempt to “break China’s lock on the solar supply chain,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
“If we continue to just import solar modules from China, then we’re trading one kind of energy dependence — on oil from the outside — to solar modules which are also coming from the outside,” Sumant Sinha, chairman and chief executive of Indian solar giant Renew, told the Journal.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called for his country to meet half its energy needs with renewables by 2030, which is equivalent to installing nearly half of all current renewable capacity in one country in less than a decade.
To meet these goals by means of domestic solar manufacturing, India’s government is using a broad policy toolkit: temporary bans on importing Chinese panels, import duties on those from other sources and hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies.
Today we’ll look at possible downsides from fossil fuel use that go far beyond energy dependence. Then we’ll turn to a new multi-state partnership that will invest $200 million in Colorado River conservation projects.
For Equilibrium, we are Saul Elbein and Sharon Udasin. Please send tips or comments to Saul at selbein@thehill.com or Sharon at sudasin@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @saul_elbein and @sharonudasin.
Let’s get to it.
