It's a different kind of dependence. Sure you need China for this particular panel you're buying now but from then on you are no longer dependent on them.
Compare that to oil and gas which has to continually be shipped. And no one says that we won't figure out how to produce these things ourselves one day.
We can produce them already, but they're too expensive. You are still reliant on China etc continuously shipping panels because panels will need to be replaced and expanded over time. Sure, it's a smaller volume, but still the same sort of problem.
Solar panels last for decades, you have to import oil every single day. How is it the same problem? And that's not even assuming we won't figure out how to build them cheaply ourselves.
Exactly. This is such a goofy idea, that you can buy something from China and use it in the EU and suddenly you’re “energy independent”. No, you’re China dependent. I guess the argument would be that solar panels last a long time and thus you’ve bought yourselves 20 years or whatever the life span is, of energy independence from China? But you’ll need new batteries sooner than that.
With rooftop solar and an EV I’m a lot less dependent on China for the next 30 years than everyone around me is on the Middle East daily for gas to drive and natural gas for heat.
