It's important to see the positives in China's solar panel influx, environmentalist says

It’s a bit of a paradox because the Chinese have killed the European solar industry, but they have saved the world. By showing that solar energy can be so cheaper than anything else in in Portugal, which is not far from here, you have solar electricity at 1.5 cents 1.5 cents per kWh. And recently the Emirates have beaten it with one cent per kWh. And of course you need a cheap production of of solar. So you can say it’s a disaster because China, China is taking all the market. But on the other hand, even if you buy the Chinese solar panels in Europe, you produce cheaper electricity and you are much more competitive than with fossil fuels and with the coal or gas important from from Russia. So it’s a paradox, but I think we really have to see which is the advantage that we can gain out of it. But is there an understanding, do you think that this is a key industry and therefore also needs more support? Well, you can put more support and try to compete, but you can also take the cheap solar panels from China and do something valuable here, for example to use this electricity to produce hydrogen and then you can develop a local. Production of hydrogen because hydrogen especially if it’s liquid is not so easy to transport. So you can have electricity used for hydrogen production. You can have a solid battery industry also in in Europe you you you can develop other things thanks to the cheap panels from from China and and I think. You know, instead of fighting against the obstacle, I think you need to use the situation to see how they will be outcomes on the side of the problem that can that can be beneficial for us. And I think there’s a lot to do in in Europe. Maybe thanks to the cheap solar energy. Otherwise nobody will use the the solar energy. You know, when I initiated the Solar Impulse project to fly around the world on a solar airplane, it was 20 years ago. Solar energy was 40 times more expensive than it is today. So I’m sorry, maybe it’s not politically correct, but I’m thinking China. For the decrease of price of solar energy that has given a wonderful push to renewable energies, we would not be at this point without China.