The US Department of Commerce (DOC) is investigating whether solar cell manufacturers in Southeast Asia are using parts made in China that are normally subject to customs duties. A group of bipartisan senators joined most of the solar industry in the United States today, arguing that the DOC investigation will devastate solar plants as they rely on imports of solar modules to meet growing demand.
May 2: Twenty-two senators released a letter to President Joe Biden today urging him to speed up the DOC’s investigation into solar panels and cells imported from Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. The bipartisan group wrote:
The launch of this investigation is already causing huge disruption to the solar industry and will seriously harm the American solar business and workers and increase the cost to American families as it continues.
We strongly urge your administration to review the case quickly and take a quick preliminary decision. Such a decision must carefully consider the significant policy implications and reject the petitioner’s request for retroactive effect.
You can read the full letter here.
April 27: According to a new analysis conducted last week and published today by the Association of the Solar Industries (SEIA), forecasts for solar installations for 2022 and 2023 are down 46% due to a DOC investigation. The case will lead to a drop of 24 gigawatts (GW) of planned solar capacity over the next two years, which is more solar energy than the installed industry throughout 2021.
SEIA also collected more than 700 responses to surveys to capture project-level data and the impact companies are feeling.
Four-fifths of respondents in the survey – 83% – who buy or use photovoltaic modules report canceled or delayed deliveries of modules.
318 utility projects, representing 51 GW of solar power and 6 GWh of rechargeable battery, have been canceled or postponed. $ 52 billion in investment in utilities is at risk.
SEIA President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper said:
This case destroys clean energy and unnecessarily destroys American business and workers after it.
He tries to help the American solar industry, but instead hurts it
April 5: A DOC investigation into the assembly of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells (CSPV) in four Southeast Asian countries could take up to a year, and suppliers said they could suspend supplies from those countries to the United States until a final decision is issued .
California-based solar panel maker Auxin Solar, whose website states it is the “longest-running US CSPV maker,” filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Commerce in February to conduct an anti-dumping investigation into solar cell circumvention. Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Auxin says tariffs on solar imports will boost local production. But most U.S. solar companies, as well as SEIA, oppose the investigation, as the United States depends on imports of solar modules to meet growing demand.
Therefore, SEIA conducted a survey of solar companies to measure the impact of the DOC investigation on their business.
As of 8 a.m. ET today, 74% of the 200 companies surveyed reported that their panel deliveries had already been canceled or delayed. According to the SEIA, 84% of all US solar module imports come from the four countries surveyed, while elsewhere there is not enough non-Chinese capacity to meet cost-effective US demand.
In addition, all surveyed solar companies expect damage along the value chain, and in particular 100% of local producers expect the investigation in Southeast Asia to have severe or devastating consequences.
The results of this study come when the industry is experiencing unprecedented challenges in the supply chain and price increases. In 2021, the cost of solar equipment increased by 18%, and the threat of previous commercial actions caused delays and cancellations of projects, according to a report published by SEIA and Wood Mackenzie.
A subsequent Wood Mackenzie report found that circumvention petitions could remove 16 gigawatts of panels from the US supply chain, two-thirds of all panels installed in the US in 2021.
SEIA estimates that as a result of this petition, the solar industry will lose 70,000 of its 231,000 jobs.
Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO of SEIA, said in an email statement today:
We call on the administration to speed up this investigation and put an end to this unnecessary obstacle to our clean energy future.
We have said that tariffs are not the right way to stimulate production and that it will take time and political commitment to move production to the United States to the required scale.
The countries mentioned in the petition are reliable trading partners, and we need their products, at least in the near future, as we strive to establish a sustainable and strong manufacturing presence here in America.
Taking Electrek
This DOC investigation is well thought out and poorly executed. US tariffs on foreign-made products will be of no use if enough of these products are not produced in the country to meet demand.
It’s great that Auxin Solar produces CSPV cells, but can it do enough for every single solar company in the United States that needs them?
Production of solar cells and panels in the United States must begin, but it is a large and significant operation that will take years to establish.
And as a result, the much-needed growth of the solar industry may stop screaming and then everyone loses.
The Biden administration needs to reconsider this investigation as it fires on its own climate change goals at the foot and knee of the vital solar industry.
Read more: Wind, solar energy, electric cars can prevent catastrophic climate change, says new IPCC report
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