The communist chinese make 97% of the solar cells.
Using slave labor is as cheap as the cells will get.
I have never said anything in favor of communists in my life.The fact apparently is that China’s standard of living has improved dramatically over the past generation because its government wasn't doing as much wrong as its ideology would suggest. Good on them, to that extent. My (liberal) daughter found opportunity in China, spent five years there and - conditions having changed - was glad to leave a year ago. I was certainly glad to have her out of there. Her children learned enough Chinese language to now be using it as their own private language among the two of them. So at least they’re maintaining some modicum of proficiency, I guess . . .
But when you see the price of a product dropping by 90% - and then dropping by a further 90% - you can’t attribute that to slave labor becoming a hundred times more exploitative. Not when the standard of living was that low to begin with, and has risen since. It can only have been done by learning by experience, and consequent efficiency and economies of scale.