Why the Bankruptcy of Suntech Matters

The Chinese government helped finance a massive expansion of the solar industry, helping to create a glut of solar panels—and leading to rapidly reducing prices for solar. But now it has let the main subsidiary of its most prominent solar panel manufacturer, Suntech Power, go bankrupt.

That could be a good sign for the solar industry and for innovation. We need more companies to fail to reduce oversupply, stop prices from plummeting, and allow companies to start buying more equipment and implementing new technologies that are needed long-term for solar to compete with fossil fuels (see “Why We Need More Solar Companies to Fail”).