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A coalition of American solar manufacturers has filed a request seeking an investigation into alleged dumping of Chinese products in four Southeast Asian nations responsible for approximately 80% of the U.S. solar panel supply.
A petition has been filed with the US Department of Commerce and the International Trade Commission, as a coalition of solar energy manufacturers with operations in the US alleges that four Southeast Asian nations are exporting dumped products from China, making it difficult for domestic manufacturers to compete on costs.
The coalition, signed as the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, includes First Solar, Qcells, Meyer Burger and REC Silicon, among others. The companies say the current “manufacturing renaissance” in the United States is threatened by heavily subsidized Chinese cells and modules that allegedly violate antidumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) laws.
“Conditions are unsustainable for American solar manufacturers,” said Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America (SEMA) coalition. “SEMA will continue to fight for strong trade enforcement and offshoring our supply chain so American businesses can thrive and we can usher in a new era of clean energy independence.”
Commerce has 20 days to act on the request and initiate an investigation if it deems necessary. If the International Trade Commission reaches a preliminary finding of material injury, it would be issued within 45 days of the investigation, and a final determination would not be issued until spring 2025. President Joe Biden declared a pause of two years on AD/CVD tariffs on solar energy in 2022, ending in June 2024.
AD/CVD laws impose high tariffs on solar cells and modules that violate product dumping in other countries to avoid tariffs. In previous AD/CVD cases in the solar energy sector, products considered infringing have been assessed tariffs of between 50% and 250% of the cost of the products shipped.
The new petition calls for investigations into goods shipped from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. Roth Capital Partners previously warned that India could also be included in the petition, but it was ultimately not included in the list of countries named.
The coalition of American manufacturers stated that “Chinas unfair and illegal trade practices have flooded the market for dumped solar panels, undermining the competitive ability of the United States.” Solar module prices have fallen to historic lows, with a decline of more than 50% in the last year. The coalition claims that if American developers sourced 55% of their solar products manufactured domestically, the solar manufacturing industry would support 900,000 jobs in the United States by 2035. Additionally, according to the coalition, offshoring the chain Solar supply could reduce global emissions from solar manufacturing by 30%.
If Commerce resumes the investigation, it is expected to be a positive development for manufacturers like First Solar, while it would be a negative development for global suppliers like JinkoSolar and Canadian Solar. Roth Capital Partners said the investigation would also be a “negative increase” for large-scale U.S. industry, including tracker makers like Nextracker and Array Technologies. Array Technologies asked that the petition be denied.
“The Inflation Reduction Act has fueled the expansion of the U.S. solar supply chain, which is not limited to modules but includes trackers, inverters, power balance systems, and polysilicon manufacturers,” said Kevin G. Hostelter, CEO of Array Technologies. “We must continue to increase the deployment of solar energy to create jobs and strengthen our energy independence. “More tariffs will only cause uncertainty and unnecessary delays in projects, holding the US back from meeting our clean energy deployment and manufacturing goals.”
The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Advanced Energy United, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), and the American Clean Energy Association (ACP) issued a joint statement opposing the petition.
“We are deeply concerned that AD/CVD filings will lead to increased market volatility across the US solar and storage industry and create uncertainty at a time when we need effective solutions to support solar manufacturers.” of the US,” the joint statement said. “We need constructive actions, like the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit and other policies, to expand domestic solar manufacturing and deploy clean energy at scale and speed to meet growing demand for electricity.” |
