The New York Times is reporting that Chinese solar panels are now so affordable in South Africa that businesses and families are snapping them up, slashing their bills and challenging utilities.

Many have turned to affordable solar panels and batteries, largely manufactured in China, to bypass the unreliable power grid. This shift is not limited to individual homes or small offices; it spans auto factories, wineries, gold mines, shopping malls, and universities, fundamentally altering how Africa’s largest economy generates and consumes power.

This has a real impact, as some businesses literally could not operate at times due to a lack of power.

The transformation has been remarkably swift. From virtually zero in 2019, solar now accounts for approximately 10 percent of South Africa’s electricity-generating capacity, with private installations adding over seven gigawatts in the past five years—roughly a tenth of the nation’s total 55-gigawatt capacity. This “bottom-up movement,” as described by Joel Nana of Sustainable Energy Africa, allows businesses and households to sidestep a dysfunctional system plagued by expensive, unreliable, or nonexistent electricity.

This is great news, as we’re now seeing a market driven apporach to renewable energy which can have huge ramifications around the world, even at a time when enemies of renewables like Donald Trump are trying to slow down the adoption of solar and wind.

At the heart of this boom is China’s dominance in clean energy manufacturing. Over the past decade, while the U.S. emphasized fossil fuel exports, China invested heavily in renewables, producing the majority of the world’s solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles. Oversupply has driven prices to historic lows, making solar accessible even in developing markets. Tariffs have limited Chinese exports to the U.S. and Europe, but Africa has emerged as a key destination. In the first ten months of 2025, solar imports from China to the continent surged 50 percent. South Africa led as the top importer, followed by nations like Sierra Leone and Chad, which imported equipment equivalent to half their existing generating capacity.

There are all sorts of econimic and trade implications here, but the basic reality is we’re seeing a tipping point where cost is now a huge advtantage for solar power.

One of the more interesting trends in solar involves companies that will install solar panels on residential or commercial real estate with little or no upfront costs to the owner. How can they do that? The idea is simple – you have a situation where the combination of subsidies and the solar power will significantly reduce an owner’s electricity bills. The savings stream can then be used to pay off the costs of the solar panel upgrades.

The plunging costs of solar power are making this trend even more powerful. There is some controversy, as some suspect that the Chinese are dumping panels in the US below cost, so it will be interesting to see if the trend continues on this pace, but either way prices will keep coming down. It’s just a matter of how fast.

Many businesses and consumers are catching on, though again it remains to be seen as to how fast these systems will be implemented. For many, this becomes a real investment opportunity that changes the calculation around certain real estate investments. If you’re looking for investment property, you of course want every advantage you can think of. Every cost saving needs to be considered. Of course you’ll be looking for a bmv investment as you want to save on the initial purchase price, but ancillary costs matter as well. Energy savings should get thorough investigation. This also applies if you’re seeking overseas properties, as many countries are jumping on the renewable energy bandwagon.

The bottom line is that solar power and other renewables will grow even faster when there are economic incentives. And those that see the incentives and their applications first can make profits by acting on them.

Read this article about the battle between natural gas and solar power in Colorado and you’ll get a great idea of the complexity surrounding the clean energy issue. Over time, this stuff will get sorted out, and the subsidies for clean energy clearly have a positive impact. That said, there’s legitimate concern that all the competing interests will create a nightmare set of regulations once Congress gets through with the new climate bill.

This presents another compelling case for a simple carbon tax over cap-and-trade legislation.