While yes, the feed-in tariffs dropped in price and capped eligible additions once 52GW of capacity was installed, this only shook the heavily propped-up domestic market. Had the German manufacturers produced anything better than the rest of the world they could have exported their stuff as German engineering did since forever. However, what they produced was nothing special, solar panels are pretty low-tech that can be produced in China for a fraction of the cost in the same quality so naturally they win out. All the money should have went to the development of high-end solutions that demand engineering and manufacturing prowess and cannot easily be copied, not focus and subsequently rely on shipping lots and lots of units. This is a game high-income countries will always lose in today's globalized economy.