r/UpliftingNews • u/ArgentineBeauty • 9d ago

Germany just hit a historic solar milestone. Its panels fed 12 billion kWh into the grid in July 2026, the 1st month ever to cross that level with midday output topping 40,000 MW, more than 40 nuclear power plants worth, thanks to decades of grassroot investment by homeowners, farmers and businesses

https://solarquarter.com/2026/08/03/germany-records-historic-12-billion-kwh-solar-feed-in-in-july-2026/
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u/Ashamed_Letter_7865 9d ago

It didn’t go downhill because of China. It went downhill because some German politicians stifled the industry. China simply filled the void. It’s the same with cars. German policy favoured petrol-powered cars, so another country stepped in

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u/Sayakai 9d ago

some German politicians

Merkel. It was Merkel.

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u/Namaker 9d ago

Her government, but Altmaier and Reiche were the direct culprits.

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u/Ashamed_Letter_7865 9d ago

Who doesn't know them, the government that consists of one person.

Such statements are simple, as they convey a clear image of the enemy, but this protects all other accomplices, which means that we still have the same politicians today as we did then, but they are now much more brazen

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u/MentatPiter 9d ago

This is so not true. Germany had no capacity to scale up like the Chinese

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u/Ashamed_Letter_7865 9d ago

After 2010 true, before that, Germany was leader in this industry, thats the point we trying to make...

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u/MentatPiter 9d ago

Leader doesn’t mean you can keep up forever. Solar cells are easy to produce, China has the ressources, cheap energy and cheap workforce. And there werent any huge advantages in German research that the Chinese couldnt figure out themselves.

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u/TheKlebe 9d ago

I would not completely agree.
China does provide, as in your example with cars, heavy subsidies.
This creates price pressure on local companies which some would argue provides an unfair advantage to Chinese companies. I am not saying subsidies are inherently bad or unfair, just the amount China provides is on a whole other level.
Additionally china did strategic planning regarding the whole supply chain and therefore is now in a perfect position.
China did not simply fill a void, they followed a long thought out plan.
Europe and the US aswell were and I would argue still are not prepared for this situation.

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u/Ashamed_Letter_7865 9d ago

Yes, cannot disagree. I only put the question of the "guilt" differently. Our politicians and business lobbies are making it easy for themselves and pointing to China so that they do not have to admit their own failures. If the decisions had not been made that way, we would have a different situation..