Rapid solar capacity expansion overwhelms the grid, PV manufacturers compete for market shares, and then large target markets slap import tariffs on Chinese PV products, taking off their.
The network analyses show that China, Germany and Japan have long dominated the trade market in photovoltaic cells. From 2000 to 2019, China's total imports and exports were the largest. Asian countries held an important position in global photovoltaic cell exports.
Compared with PV cell imports, PV cell exports are more concentrated in a few countries. The right half of Fig. 4 shows different characteristics with one large node, representing Japan in 2003 and China in 2011, 2013 and 2019. Asian countries hold an important position in global PV exports.
Five of the identified six countries are from Asia, which dominates the solar market in PV cell production and exports. China has the largest PV cell export value, which peaked in 2011, and its export value is much larger than that of other countries.
Does the global photovoltaic cell trade network have a “robust-yet-fragile” configuration?
The competition in the global photovoltaic cell trade was concentrated in Asia and Europe. The simulation results indicate that the global photovoltaic cell trade network shows a “robust-yet-fragile” configuration. This network is more resistant to demand-reduction-driven shocks than to supply-reduction-driven shocks.