Let's see what my original point was about.
I said China being the largest solar market in the world will allow Chinese companies to survive. China will have about 5 big solar companies after the industry goes through a consolidation process. Smaller companies are either bought by bigger companies or they are allowed to go bankrupt. This is what happens to every mature industry.
Chinese solar companies are currently adjusting to supplying the Chinese market since they overproduced as they anticipated European demand to continue and didn't anticipate trade protectionism from Europe.
Chinese solar demand will continue to increase and it will be Chinese solar companies that will supply that demand.
If China didn't have solar demand, then China won't have solar companies as foreign markets will introduce trade protectionism to eliminate Chinese companies.
Europe failed in its goal to eliminate the Chinese solar industry. Europe thought that once they introduce trade protectionism that the Chinese solar companies would be liquidated and there won't be any competition for European solar companies. But China decided to expand its own solar demand which can compensate for European demand.
As TaiShang have pointed out, Chinese solar demand will increase enormously over the next few years.
Guess who will supply that demand?
Chinese companies
Exactly, my friend. The future of solar is in the Dragon's hands.
Listed below are the top ten PV "module" manufacturers for 2014. Companies are ranked by
megawatts shipped, not revenue. Trina Solar is number one on the top 10 list, up from number two last year (+1 in year over year change). Yingli Green Energy dropped from number one to number two. First Solar dropped to number nine from number seven last year.
Seven of the top 10 module producers are Chinese and during 2014 well over 50% of all solar panels shipped were manufactured in China. (Note that Canadian Solar has a 500 MW manufacturing plant in Canada.) There is a general trend for companies to vertically integrate, i.e. manufacture all three stages of production - wafers, cells, and modules. Wafer companies are moving into cells because they have a cost advantage using their own wafers. Pure cell manufacturers are moving into modules, which is basically low tech assembly, but it also gives them a low cost material advantage. Major players want to be totally integrated from wafers to modules and even end user sales and installation. Having an internal supply of material shields companies from the up and down swings of the spot markets and provides an opportunity to "brand" their products.
The 10 Largest Solar "Module" Manufacturers - 2014
Rank Company Technology Y/Y Chg.
1 Trina Solar, China c-Si +1
2 Yingli Green, China c-Si -1
3 Canadian Solar, China c-Si 0
4
Hanwha Solar, China a-Si, c-Si +6
5 Jinko Solar, China c-Si 0
6 JA Solar, China c-Si +3
7
Sharp, Japan c-Si, Thin Film Si -3
8 ReneSola, China c-Si -2
9
First Solar, USA CdTe -2
10 Kyocera, Japan c-Si -1
c-Si = Crystalline Silicon, a-Si = Amorphous Silicon, CdTe = Cadmium Telluride
@Economic superpower ,
@Shotgunner51 , please pay attention to this:
Those Chinese companies who have stock traded on American exchanges, and have to follow American accounting rules,
have mainly lost money because of inventory write downs and other asset impairment write downs. Most of these are non cash items on balance sheets. Actual cash flows were not as negative as profits. Some companies even continued to have a positive cash flow. However, prices of some components like polysilicon, wafers and solar cells have been edging up since the beginning of 2013. 2014 proved to be a profitable year for the companies that survived the 2011 and 2012 glut of product.
http://solarcellcentral.com/markets_page.html#issues