Berlin - China has overtaken Germany as the top world producer of solar cells, and other eastern countries are catching up fast, according to a report published Friday by the online edition of Germany's Der Spiegel magazine. After years of German dominance in the sector, China last year produced solar cells with a capacity of 1,200 megawatt, against the 875 MW made in Germany.
China's share of the world market had leapt to 28 per cent from 15 per cent in 2006, according to data compiled by sector magazine Photon and cited by Der Spiegel.
Chinese producer Suntech had increased production by 110 per cent and was now globally the largest solar module producer, Der Spiegel said.
In a curious twist, much of the solar capacity is not being sold in producer countries China, Taiwan and India, but being exported to countries like Germany, where state subsidies for installing solar capacity on the roofs of homes, offices and other buildings are high.
Suntech head Zhengrong Shi said: "There is hardly any market in China. We depend on you."
Der Spiegel said state subsidies for solar energy were under reconsideration by the German government, especially as the subsidies were long-term and spread over as long as 20 years.
One German economic research institute put the future costs for modules installed up to the end of 2007 as high as 23 billion euros (36 billion dollars).
A draft law was in the works to to cut the subsidies, according to Der Spiegel.
