Evan Ellis - Is China Cornering the Green Energy Transition in Latin America?
Dear Colleague,
With this email, I am proud to share with you my latest work on the increasingly dominant position of PRC-based companies across the array of Green Energy industries in Latin America, from hydroelectric, wind and solar projects, to energy transmission and distribution, to electric vehicles (EVs) and strategic supply chains for lithium and rare earth minerals. This includes such Chinese behemoths as State Grid, China Three Gorges, and China Southern Power Industrial Corporation (SPIC), as well as Power China, which is often behind many of the smaller wind, solar and hydroelectric initiatives more low-profile PRC-based companies seeking to engage “below-the-radar” are pursuing in the region.
In this work, I argue that China’s advance in these sectors, while indirectly supporting the global transition toward green energy, raises important questions regarding “who captures and benefits from the value added” of this massive series of commercial and government initiatives currently underway, and the transformation of the region’s commercial structure they imply. For the long-term, whose technology and whose standards are locked in for future benefit. In short, is Latin America slowly condemning itself to a green energy future in which Chinese companies extract its lithium and niobium with little benefit to local economies, and in return, sell it expensive hydro, wind, and solar power, with the value added from that generation, transmission and distribution going to Chinese companies with the increasing power and leverage to determine “who can turn on the lights” in the region’s economies.
For the U.S. and other Western countries actively funding and promoting the transition to green energy, the dominant position of PRC-based companies in areas such as photovoltaic panels, wind technology, and increasingly the EV market, creates strategic dilemmas of having to accept that Washington’s support for green energy in Latin America is inadvertently fueling Chinese dominance in sectors at the center of the future global economy.
The work, published by Dialogo Magazine, is available in English here for download:
The Spanish-language version is available for download here:
The Portuguese-language version is available for download here:
The English-language version is also available from the Dialogo website:
https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/is-china-cornering-the-green-energy-transition-in-latin-america/
The Spanish-language version is also available from Dialogo at:
https://dialogo-americas.com/es/articles/esta-china-acaparando-la-transicion-hacia-la-energia-verde-en-america-latina/
The Portuguese-language version is also available from Dialogo at:
https://dialogo-americas.com/es/articles/esta-china-acaparando-la-transicion-hacia-la-energia-verde-en-america-latina/
Podcast and Radio Shows:
As always, I would also like to share with you the links to my latest video presentations and podcasts:
These include my presentation, in Spanish, on the same topic of trends in PRC Defense Engagement in the region, to the Red China-ALC. The program, and the group is hosted by my distinguished colleague and friend, Dr. Enrique Dussel Peters, head of the Mexico-China Center (CECHIMEX) at Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM). CECHIMEX is one of the region’s premier centers for China and China-Latin America studies; it was an honor for me to share this new work in that forum.:
My audiovisual products also include my latest segments on the John Batchelor Show, in his special ongoing series on Latin America, The New World Report. You may find these weekly podcasts, which we have been doing regularly for well over a year now, as a useful analysis of key events in the region.
The full list is available on my website:
https://www.revanellis.com
The latest episodes (February 21, 2024) are:
G20 summit and Brazil: https://audioboom.com/posts/8461897-newworldreport-g20-foreign-ministers-at-rio-de-janeiro-lula-de-silva-defames-israel-latin-ame
Argentina: https://audioboom.com/posts/8461900-newworldreport-fm-david-cameron-visits-the-falklands-and-buenos-aires-reacts-dryly-latin-ame
El Salvador, Honduras and Panama: https://audioboom.com/posts/8461901-newworldreport-bukele-celebrates-former-president-of-honduras-hernandez-on-trial-panam-fortun
Colombia: https://audioboom.com/posts/8461899-newworldreport-gustavo-petro-of-colombia-weighs-bombing-the-narco-terror-gangs-latin-american
Website for all Publications:
As always, at my professional website you can access the present, and all of my past publications, as well as select webinars and podcasts:
https://revanellis.com/
Book on China-Latin America:
My latest book, China Engages Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy, is available through my publisher Palgrave-Macmillan, at:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-96049-0
Please feel free to share this post with a friend or colleague. If you would like to be included in my (always free) distribution list, I welcome the opportunity to include you:
Thank you, as always, for your interest in my work.
Respectfully,
R. Evan Ellis, PhD
Latin America Research Professor
U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute
@REvanEllis
Website: https://revanellis.com