How China became solar royalty

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

When Shi Zhengrong started making solar panels at the turn of the century, there was basically no solar industry in China. But in the decades that followed, the nation started heavily investing in renewables. Today, we dig into how China became a leader in solar power while following the story of one man: the Sun King.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Adrian Ma.
0:14.4	And I'm Emily Fang, one of NPR's international correspondence.
0:17.8	I cover China, Adrian, and I wanted to explore with you this incredible transformation that happened while I was living in China.
0:26.0	It used to be this country that was completely dependent on coal-fired electricity and other fossil fuels.
0:33.2	Oh, I mean, I have visited Beijing a few times.
0:37.5	I remember when I first went in the 90s, it seemed so smoggy there. I can't help but wonder if part of the reason was all those
0:45.2	fossil fuels you just mentioned. Absolutely and while coal is still number one there
0:50.7	we are seeing things begin to change because China as a country now
0:55.9	actually dominates the world in solar energy. It doubled five times in the past
1:02.1	10 years from about 11 gigawa in 2013 to 350 gigawa in 2023.
1:11.9	This is Sophie Lou. She's a researcher at Global Energy Monitor,
1:15.4	which is a nonprofit that tracks global energy.
1:18.2	And Sophie says China is now the world leader in solar.
1:22.4	On today's show, we'll find out how that happened
1:24.6	and how China changed the global energy market. That's coming up after the break.
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	...

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