SUGAR LAND, TEXAS--July 11, 2022--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--"Industrial planning" often gets criticized in the U.S. by free-market purists who blast most government efforts to shape and support a strategically important industry as "socialism" under another name, misguided at best and pernicious at worst. But a new report from the International Energy Agency (Paris, France) shows the value of a government's long-term, conscious intent to nurture an industry that is vital to a clean-energy future.

In this case, the industry is solar photovoltaics (PV), and the country is China.

The IEA's first-ever report on the global PV industry supply chain, Special Report on Solar PV Global Supply Chains, released July 7, shows the potential perils of pure free-market capitalism for the PV industry, which is confronting Chinese domination of most phases of the PV supply chain. As a result, the energy agency warns that the road to net-zero carbon emissions now necessarily goes through Beijing.