This is not the time to try for simple stabs in the dark, we really should make a serious effort to understand one. The west has been trying to get renewable energy working for more than 15 years, that was the strategy that has people talking about German deindustrialisation and having to read up on what the AfD's policies are. They dumped a lot of political capital into the Energiewende.
> ... because investors aren’t ok with an investment that might take a decade to pay off.
Sure. Why not? I'm happy making investments that take decades to pay off, I want to have access to machines when I'm old. What happened to all the investors who intend to live comfortably in their old age?
> What happened to all the investors who intend to live comfortably in their old age?
They got bought out by investors with shorter-term ambitions, because our economy is set up to reward short-termism, so those people end up with more capital (= market power), and this compounds over time.
> ... because investors aren’t ok with an investment that might take a decade to pay off.
Sure. Why not? I'm happy making investments that take decades to pay off, I want to have access to machines when I'm old. What happened to all the investors who intend to live comfortably in their old age?