Earlier this week, the U.S. Commerce Department released a preliminary decision on countervailing on imports of solar cells from China, which will result in import duties ranging from 2.9% to 4.73% for Suntech Power (STP) and Trina Solar (TSL) respectively. All other Chinese exporters are subject to an import duty of 3.61%. While the initial tariff imposition is much lower than widely expected by industry observers, it sends a wrong message, which could lead to greater solar industry trade friction between China and the U.S. The overall effect could result in an incrementally negative impact for U.S. solar-related companies.

The Alliance for Affordable Solar Energy (AFASE) is calling on the European Commission to uphold free trade in order to secure jobs in the European solar sector and support further industry growth and progress. With this call for open markets AFASE is reacting on the Notice of Initiation of an anti-dumping proceeding concerning Chinese solar products the European Commission has published today. Several European solar manufacturers had filed an antidumping complaint at the EU end of July.

The group fighting SolarWorld’s bid for duties on Chinese-manufactured crystalline photovoltaic cells and modules on Monday released a report that claims protectionist measures would result in between 14,000 and 60,000 fewer American jobs than would otherwise exist by the end of 2014—but that wasn’t the only news in the solar trade battle. SolarWorld claimed a victory of its own as the U.S. Department of Commerce ruled that a surge in Chinese imports since the company filed its trade petition in October constituted “critical circumstances.” That means that if the government rules in SolarWorld’s favor on March 2 on the company’s countervailing duties claim, the duties would be applied retroactively to early December.

The Ren21 Renewables Global Status Report and Renewables Interactivee Map REN21 was established in 2005 to convene international leadership and a variety of stakeholders to enable a rapid global transition to renewable energy. REN21’s Renewables Global Status Report (GSR) was first released later that year; it grew out of an effort to comprehensively capture, for the first time,
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A group of seven US-based manufacturers of solar panels is alarmed. These manufacturers, led by Solar World, a German firm with a plant in Oregon, filed a complaint with the United States International Trade Commission, which reached a preliminary conclusion in December that US companies were, in fact, being harmed by subsidized imports. If the Commerce Department goes on to find that Chinese firms have been dumping solar panels on the US market at prices below their costs, it could impose steep tariffs of 50 to 250% on Chinese panels, according to this report in The Times by Matt Wald. The Chinese government provides billions of dollars of low-cost financing and free or cheap land to Chinese solar firms.

Market Growth of Chinese PV Product Exports Results from Competitive Advantages, Not Dumping or Illicit Subsidies Growth of Chinese PV product exports worldwide results from competitive advantages on the market, not dumping or subsidies: This fact is underlined by several Chinese PV suppliers taking top rankings in the latest global PV industry sustainable growth index
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