The world is awash in photo voltaic panels after Chinese-owned companies flooded the market with low cost exports.
Companies together with Qcells, First Solar, and Swift Solar on Wednesday requested the Biden administration to slap tariffs on photo voltaic cells from 4 international locations in Southeast Asia. The US photo voltaic corporations allege that Chinese-owned companies working in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are illegally undercutting the market.
The request follows an unprecedented wave of imports from the area final yr. Those 4 international locations mixed accounted for about 80% of US photo voltaic panel imports through the second half of 2023, in keeping with S&P knowledge. There is now an 18-month provide of photo voltaic panels sitting in warehouses, and costs have been minimize in half previously yr to as little as 10 cents per watt. In Germany, panels are so low cost that they are getting used to line backyard fences.
“In the past, we’ve been dependent on foreign oil from our adversaries,” Tim Brightbill, a associate at Wiley Rein LLP representing the photo voltaic corporations, instructed reporters. “We should not make the same mistake with respect to solar power. Solar was invented here. It was perfected here. There is no reason why America should be dependent on Chinese companies.”
The petition by US photo voltaic corporations comes at a important time for President Joe Biden. On the marketing campaign path, he is touted how his insurance policies to deal with the local weather disaster are creating jobs. More than $111 billion price of funding has been introduced in renewable power manufacturing initiatives alone, largely fueled by tax breaks within the Inflation Reduction Act.
But US photo voltaic makers say their companies cannot compete with out stronger safeguards towards China, which is outpacing US funding by tons of of billions of {dollars} a yr. CubicPV, a Massachusetts-based firm, in February canceled plans for a brand new manufacturing unit and minimize its workforce in half, citing the surge in low cost imports from China.
Industry analysts estimate that China accounts for greater than 80% of world photo voltaic manufacturing, with a lot of the remaining occurring in Southeast Asia and funded by Chinese-headquartered companies.
US commerce coverage blocks photo voltaic panel imports straight from China. But the Commerce Department final yr decided that 5 Chinese corporations have been transport merchandise by way of Southeast Asian international locations to keep away from steep taxes on the US border. Despite the findings, the Biden administration held off on imposing tariffs as a result of they are going to be reinstated in June when a two-year waiver expires. That waiver was initially carried out to make sure the US may hold increasing solar energy to satisfy local weather targets whereas home producers constructed up their operations.
But in latest weeks, administration officers, together with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have stated the US is evaluating new methods to counter China’s dominance over inexperienced expertise, together with tariffs.
The petition by US photo voltaic corporations — often known as an anti-dumping and countervailing responsibility case — may result in that. It kicks off a yearlong investigation by the US Commerce Department and International Trade Commission. The companies will have a look at photo voltaic subsidies in Southeast Asian international locations, in addition to subsidies from the Chinese authorities. The probe will assist decide whether or not photo voltaic panels have been bought within the US at costs under the price of manufacturing.
China, for its half, has dismissed the considerations. After Yellen met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in April, his workplace instructed The New York Times: “The development of China’s new energy industry will make an important contribution to the worldwide green and low-carbon transition.”