Shalini S Sharma
In recent years, Chinese banks have been funding very aggressively in the area of green energy – solar power, electric vehicles and battery energy storage systems.
China today produces 2,340 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy, India produces around 260 GW. In solar alone, China today has a capacity of 1,200 GW. In India, the total installed generation capacity, renewable plus coal-fired, is 500 GW. China’s installed capacity is 3800 GW.
In 2000, China’s per capita electricity consumption was around 1,000 kWh. This is the per capita energy consumption in India today. By 2023, after building approximately 3,500 GW of new capacity in 25 years, China’s per capita consumption reached ~6,500 kWh – six times that of India.
Battery energy storage systems
Due to a high generation capacity of solar power, China also needed a system to store this power for night-time consumption and maintain the stability of the grid. For this, the country invested heavily in research and development.
In the past 10 years, China has made unprecedented advancements in this area, backed by Government funding, free land and required permissions.
The result is that today China supplies renewable energy solutions to the world. Its major markets include Europe, central Asia and Latin America. In India, all major components for this sector come from China. We import solar cells and assemble solar modules.
China’s batter energy storage systems are most advanced in the world today. They have created technology for making batteries using sodium which is thousand times more abundant and much cheaper than lithium. With this they have been able to cater to energy storage requirements of entire towns through battery power.
Seasoned businessmen in India, especially in renewable energy, have been visiting China for years to source everything, from machines to raw material and even finished goods. After all, who can compete with the scale and depth of production when companies do not have to pay any money for land, for factories or offices?
Doing business in China
According to hearsay, anybody wanting to set up a business in China, need only apply for requisite permissions to the Government, with detailed plans etc. Once the application is submitted, all permissions and licence etc are given to the person within three weeks. Along with that, land and working capital is also given.
If the entrepreneur performs well within a few years, he is given a house, a car and a bigger place to run his operations. Once that level is crossed, even bigger place with complete infrastructure, plug-and-play style, is given. The bigger and better set-up is always away from the main city so that there is adequate space for the ecosystem to grow. Housing facilities are already there in abundance.
The bigger the company grows, the higher the rewards become and higher goes the Government’s stake in that project. Since land and resources are disbursed centrally, there is equal distribution and equal consumption.
Planning and mapping of resources is done in such a manner that all manufacturing companies of a similar nature are located in specific regions with geographical proximity. Large common facilities are available for small companies to handle specific stages of production.
Manufacturing companies only have to produce, they do not have to worry about sales which are handled by specialised sales companies. This is also the reason why a visit to a manufacturing facility seldom yields any answers on sales numbers or costs, since these are handled by different entities.
As a result, China is making at scale things which other nations have only just begun thinking of. This includes everything – from large plants for recycling of solar panels, to light-weight and flexi panels which add to the aesthetics of buildings, transparent solar panels which look like tinted glass but produce electricity on the facades of buildings and become giant billboards at night, LED walls which produce energy, solar farms, wind energy machines, autonomous bots / robots with large battery packs and charging infrastructure which is built to handle several vehicles at a time.
The level of automation in Chinese factories is almost akin to a science-fiction movie. Autonomous vehicles are par for the course on roads. Almost everybody rides an electric scooter or a bicycle.
PHDCCI recently mounted its first ever business delegation on renewable energy and electric vehicle (EV) sector to China, from 29 March to 4 April. The 8-member delegation included six start-ups in EV charging, EV trucks, battery storage and energy trading.
The objective of the delegation was to explore new technology solutions, meet new companies which were global leaders in their respective fields and discuss possibilities of partnerships for sourcing machinery and equipment.
At one of the B2B meetings with at least 12 RE companies arranged by Shanghai New Energy Industry Association (SNEIA) at the sprawling campus of Global New Energy Empowerment Centre in Minhang district of Shanghai, this writer saw the palpable interest and enthusiasm from companies on both sides.
Talks between Indian delegates and Chinese companies stretched much beyond the stipulated time, with several Chinese executives having travelled hundreds of kilometers for the interactions.
While members of the Indian delegation outlined their requirements, companies from the other side showcased their strengths through individual presentations.
The visit provided the short answer to the oft-asked question in India, “when will we be able to compete with China” – Never. We are different and they are different. And we are good the way we are.
Today China supplies renewable energy solutions to the world. Its major markets include Europe, central Asia and Latin America. In India, all major components for this sector come from China. We import solar cells and assemble solar modules
