Chinese authorities are to launch an investigation of quality standards in China’s solar panel industry, the largest in the world, underlining Beijing’s growing efforts to regulate runaway growth among clean energy manufacturers.
China is also the world’s largest producer of wind turbines, and Chinese manufacturers have rapidly stolen market share from their western competitors in recent years because of their cost advantage.
However, there are signs that the Chinese government is cracking down on quality standards in certain clean energy industries. The solar panel industry lacks a domestic certification programme for panels, or photovoltaic modules.