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Dive Brief:
- The potential new tariffs, stemming from a petition looking for new antidumping and countervailing duties for sure photo voltaic cell imports, might elevate “module prices that made within the US at 10 cents per watt and the price of importing the module at 15 cents/watt,” in response to a report launched. Tuesday from Clean Energy Associates, commissioned by the American Council on Renewable Energy.
- “These larger costs applied on prime of different headwinds, together with home elements and commerce restrictions already in place and affecting the trade’s trajectory, might severely hinder America’s progress in photo voltaic deployment,” ACORE stated in a launch.
- Tim Brightbill, lead lawyer for the American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing Trade Committee, which submitted the petition, stated, “The report itself reveals that commerce fees have not likely affected photo voltaic demand up to now, and it reveals that [an] applicable drugs could make the US extra aggressive. “
Dive Insights:
The CEA report discovered that AD/CVD tariffs would improve all-in US module meeting prices from 22 cents per watt to 32 cents per watt, and Southeast Asia all-in module prices from 24 cents per watt to 40 cents per watt. But the report says there’s “at the moment no crystalline silicon wafer or cell manufacturing within the US” and says rising import costs might result in decreased financing for photo voltaic manufacturing.
Brightbill, which is affiliated with the legislation agency Wiley Rein, stated, “Despite the proof of unlawful commerce practices, the group behind this report is invested in sustaining the established order.”
The trade alliance that submitted the petition – made up of First Solar, Hanwha Qcells, Convalt Energy, Meyer Burger, Mission Solar, REC Silicon and Swift Solar – stated some crystalline silicon photo voltaic cells imported from in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam seem like a menace to the home photo voltaic market.
The controversial petition divided opinion within the photo voltaic trade instantly after its submission in April, with clear vitality teams Advanced Energy United, ACORE, the Solar Energy Industries Association and the American Clean Power Association issuing the a joint assertion calling the petition a “potential menace” to the home photo voltaic provide chain.
“The US might want to import as much as 41 GW value of cells and/or modules to fulfill deliberate US installations till the phase-out of Section 201 in February 2026; Importing cells presently will add a price burden to the consumers,” the CEA report stated.
ACORE’s launch states that new evaluation reveals that the ensuing harm to the photo voltaic market is already exhibiting within the type of “[spiking] worth” because the petition was filed with the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission on April 24. The ITC granted the petition a optimistic preliminary damage dedication in June, permitting the case to proceed.
CEA’s evaluation drew parallels between this case and the same petition filed with the Department of Commerce in 2022 by California-based photo voltaic panel assembler Auxin Solar, which alleged that producers of photo voltaic panels imported from the identical 4 nations in Southeast Asia have prevented tariffs on Chinese-made parts.
The case was additionally controversial for its potential influence on the home photo voltaic trade, and the CEA stated it led to “a major worth improve from 35 [cents per watt] to 55¢/W mitigated solely by Presidential motion,” referring to a two-year moratorium issued by President Joe Biden on any new tariffs stemming from the investigation. The hiatus led to June.
An April launch from the trade alliance stated the petitioners filed as a result of “firms discovered to be evading tariffs will not be anticipated to pay the tariffs when the moratorium ends in June, as a result of as a result of their provide chains are based mostly in Southeast Asia means they’re not technically in violation as outlined within the circumvention choice.”
Brightbill stated in April that any enforcement arising from the case is unlikely to hurt US photo voltaic provide, as “there are 30 GW of photo voltaic imports already in storage, nearly two and a half years of quantity to what’s wanted.”
During a Tuesday webinar hosted by ACORE, CEA Vice President and report co-author Dan Shreve stated, “At the tip of final yr and the start of 2024, there was a major quantity of import capability – extra greater than what you usually see,” however stated he couldn’t ensure in regards to the future influence of the availability backlog on pricing.
Right now, Shreve stated, “We consider that a few of that worth improve has been mitigated to some extent by what’s a considerable quantity of stock being held right here within the US”