Dive Brief:
- An alliance of seven U.S. solar manufacturers filed a petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday, asking for antidumping and countervailing duties to be imposed on crystalline silicon solar cells imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
- The petitioners allege that the domestic solar component industry is being injured by “dumped and subsidized imports from these four countries … [leading] to a collapse of global solar panel prices,” Wiley Rein partner Tim Brightbill, who is representing the companies in this case, said during a Tuesday press call.
- The petition was criticized in a joint statement from clean energy groups Advanced Energy United, the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Solar Energy Industries Association and the American Clean Power Association, who warned that it would create “market uncertainty” and poses a “potential threat” to the domestic solar supply chain.
Dive Insight:
In a response to the joint statement from the clean energy trade groups, spokespersons for the solar manufacturers’ alliance pointed to comments that NextEra Energy President and CEO John Ketchum made during a Tuesday earnings call in which they said he “expressed no concerns about the new cases.”
“We are very well positioned to manage through this like we always do,” Ketchum said when asked about the potential for a new antidumping and countervailing duties case. “Our inventory position and the contractual protections that we have in place are expected to give us strong coverage for our backlog through 2027.”
The April 24 petition comes just two months before the scheduled end to a moratorium on any new tariffs stemming from a Department of Commerce investigation into five solar companies – BYD Hong Kong, New East Solar, Canadian Solar, Trina Solar and Vina Solar – that were found guilty of circumventing payment of U.S. duties by completing minor processing on Chinese-made panels in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
“Companies found to be circumventing the tariffs are not expected to pay tariffs when the moratorium ends in June, because their Southeast Asia-based supply chains mean they are no longer in technical violation as outlined in the circumvention decision,” the alliance said in a release. “This new trade case is required to address the unfair trade practices by these solar manufacturers in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.”
During the Tuesday press call, Brightbill asserted that enforcement associated with the case would not slow down solar deployment, saying this was “just evident from the fact that there are 30 GW of solar imports already in storage, almost two-and-a-half years’ worth of what is needed.”
“It’s very significant that these cases are supported by a significant and solid majority of the domestic industry, and we would not be surprised if additional companies weigh in and support after the petition is officially filed tomorrow,” Brightbill said.
However, solar tracking technology manufacturer Array Technologies sided with the clean energy groups in a Wednesday statement from CEO Kevin Hostetler, who called the petition “bad news for clean energy jobs and American solar manufacturing” and urged the Department of Commerce to “reject this harmful petition.”
“The threat of duties alone can cause major disruption to the solar industry and hurt manufacturers like Array that rely on a thriving market to do business,” Hostetler said. “More duties will only cause uncertainty and unnecessary project delays, holding the U.S. back in meeting our clean energy deployment and manufacturing goals.”
First Solar and Qcells are joined by Convalt Energy, Meyer Burger, Mission Solar, REC Silicon and Swift Solar in the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee.
First Solar CEO Mark Widmar had telegraphed the extent of the company’s concerns during March 14 testimony to the Senate Finance Committee, during which he said that the “relentlessness of the Chinese subsidization and dumping strategy” had led to a drop in global solar cell and module prices along with a U.S. oversupply of “30 to 40 GW” by the end of last year.
Though First Solar does not manufacture crystalline silicon panels abroad, and wouldn’t have its overseas manufacturing impacted by this case, other companies in the coalition do, Brightbill said.
“That means that, first of all, they are prioritizing their U.S. manufacturing,” he said. “They know that the future is in being able to manufacture here, not just import. And if duties are imposed on those four countries, and that affects any companies that are importing – including the petitioners – they will pay those duties.”
