After a large number of fish were killed from poisonous fluoride being dumped into a local river, hundreds of residents in Haining City, China staged a 3-day protest at a solar panel factory:
Some 500 villagers staged a three-day protest following the death of large numbers of fish in a local river.
Some demonstrators broke into the plant in Zhejiang province, destroying offices and overturning company cars before being dispersed by riot police.
Tests on water samples showed high levels of fluoride, which can be toxic in high doses, officials said.
The BBC's Juliana Liu in Shanghai says the Chinese villagers see the plant's closure as a victory.
Ironically, its the dumping of Chinese financial subsidies which have shuttered solar plants in developed nations:
Armed with tens of billions in loans from the Chinese government, Chinese solar companies have scaled at a rate unthinkable only a few years ago. At the end of this year, there will likely be 50,000 megawatts (MW) of manufacturing capacity in place around the world, with much of that new capacity being developed in China and other Asian countries.
In four years, the solar manufacturing sector shifted from being led by a geographically dispersed number of companies to one dominated by Chinese companies. In 2006, there were two companies from China in the list of top ten cell producers. In 2010, there were six, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. There are currently only two non-Asian manufacturers in the top ten, and those companies -- First Solar and Q-Cells -- have shifted a lot of their production to Asia...
Bryan Ashley, the Chief Marketing Officer for Suniva, an American company that produces high-efficiency solar cells in Georgia, doesn't mince words.
"The Chinese strategy is very clear. They are engaging in predatory financing and they're trying to drive everybody else out of the market. When you've got free money you can out-dump everybody below cost," Ashley said in an interview with Climate Progress.
The Chinese may have come up with a way to treat wastewater using solar energy, but there is no technology that can be used to fight free money from their development bank. The CEO of SolarWorld has urged for sanctions against dumping:
Frank Asbeck, chief executive of Germany's No.2 solar company SolarWorld, has criticized Chinese rivals for eating into the market share of European peers, potentially driving them out of business.
"There is no fair competition in our industry. The Chinese have started an industry war," he told German magazine Capital, according to an excerpt of an interview made available ahead of its publication on Thursday.
"In 2011 alone, central government and provinces have given credit guarantees of more than 21 billion euros ($29 billion) to solar companies, at interest rates of less than 2 percent."