Policy & Regulation

Solar industry reacts to new tariff petitions targeting Southeast Asian countries

Solar industry reacts to new tariff petitions targeting Southeast Asian countries
(Source: Jiraroj Praditcharoenkul/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images)

The American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, made up of U.S. solar manufacturers (Convalt Energy, First Solar, Meyer Burger, Mission Solar, Qcells, REC Silicon, and Swift Solar), filed a set of antidumping and countervailing duty petitions with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce to investigate potentially illegal trade practices by Southeast Asian countries.

The petitions were filed April 24 with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission requesting imposition of anti-dumping and countervailing duties (AD/CVD) on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells and modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

This action comes less than a year after the U.S. Department of Commerce made its final determination that Chinese solar manufacturers were circumventing tariffs on solar cells and solar panels by shipping their products through Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. However, the administration imposed a two-year moratorium on these tariffs. The petitioners argue that this allowed Chinese-owned solar manufacturers to shift their supply chains.

“America’s solar manufacturing industry is on the cusp of tremendous growth that will create jobs and change the trajectory of our clean energy transition for decades to come. However, this manufacturing renaissance is being threatened by China’s industrial policy, which has led to massive subsidization in China and Southeast Asia. This is resulting in high volumes of dumping on global markets including the U.S., injuring our domestic producers,” said Tim Brightbill, co-chair of Wiley’s International Trade Practice and lead counsel to the petitioner, the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee. “We are seeking to enforce the rules, remedy the injury to our domestic solar industry, and signal that the U.S. will not be a dumping ground for foreign solar products.”

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports there is a year and a half of stockpiled panels in American warehouses. Imports into the U.S. exceeded installations in 2023 by more than 25 gigawatts, and prices have fallen by more than 50 percent in that time.

However, other players in the solar industry did not share the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee’s sentiment, arguing that the petition could harm U.S. solar.

“Today’s filing creates market uncertainty in the U.S. solar industry and poses a potential threat to the build-out of a domestic solar supply chain,” The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), American Clean Power Association (ACP), Advanced Energy United (United), and American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) said in a statement. “America’s energy security relies upon building a strong domestic solar supply chain, which our members strongly support, and the Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit and incentives are working to drive historic investments in U.S. solar manufacturing that are building domestic capacity for a U.S. solar supply chain.”

The industry groups urged the Biden administration to consider alternative solutions to address the petitioners’ concerns.

“We are deeply concerned the AD/CVD petitions will lead to further market volatility across the U.S. solar and storage industry and create uncertainty at a time when we need effective solutions that support U.S. solar manufacturers,” the industry groups said in the joint statement. “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 serve growing electricity demand.”

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Array Technologies, a U.S. manufacturer of solar tracking technology, issued a statement in response to the case filing, which it says could cause “significant disruptions and challenges” for the solar industry.

“This case is bad news for clean energy jobs and American solar manufacturing,” said Array Technologies chief executive officer, Kevin G. Hostetler. “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.”

“The Inflation Reduction Act has super-charged the expansion of the American solar supply chain, which is more than just modules—it’s trackers, inverters, balance of electrical systems and polysilicon manufacturers,” Hostetler said. “We need to keep growing solar deployment to create jobs and bolster our energy independence. More duties will only cause uncertainty and unnecessary project delays, holding the U.S. back in meeting our clean energy deployment and manufacturing goals.”   

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