According to data from Bloomberg, seven Chinese solar companies have a larger share of the energy market in the 21st century than the “Seven Sisters” of oil had in the 20th.
The names of the solar companies are:
- Tongwei Co.
- GCL Technology Holdings Ltd.
- Xinte Energy Co.
- Longi Green Energy Technology Co.
- Trina Solar Co.
- JA Solar Technology Co.
- Jinko Solar Co.
Meanwhile, the Seven Sisters of oil are cited as being:
- Exxon Mobil Corp.
- Chevron Corp.
- Shell Plc
- BP Plc
- TotalEnergies Se
- ConocoPhillips
- Eni SpA
The findings note that, despite being behind the Chinese companies, the Seven Sisters are still giants of the energy market – producing vast quantities of oil.
Bloomberg explains that companies such as Tongwei, GCL, and Xinte, who produce polysilicon for solar panels, can now go “head-to-head” with large oil companies such as BP, Eni, and ConocoPhillips when it comes to production – with panel makers not far behind.
It makes the point that Tongwei’s plans to build a 400,000tn polysilicon plant in Inner Mongolia will almost double the company’s current output – possibly overtaking oil giant ExxonMobil.
A large part of this success is attributed to the longevity of the solar industry’s infrastructure. While oil and gas made in 2024 will be consumed in a few months, a single solar panel from Longi would be expected to produce useful energy for several decades.
This leads Bloomberg’s data to demonstrate that, in the long term, energy provided by the Chinese solar companies vastly outweighs the annual output of the Seven Sisters.
