Photo voltaic firms say new tariff proposal would devastate the trade

The Photo voltaic Vitality Industries Affiliation stated Wednesday that implementing tariffs on panels and cells from Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, which account for 80% of the U.S.’ panel imports, would have a “catastrophic affect” on the trade.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, greater than 190 U.S. photo voltaic firms urged the Division of Commerce to not provoke a commerce investigation.

Wednesday’s letter comes after a number of firms filed an nameless petition with the Division of Commerce in August alleging that China-based photo voltaic cell and module producers are avoiding U.S. tariffs by transferring manufacturing in a foreign country. The Division is predicted to determine by the top of the month whether or not to open an investigation.

“The huge duties referred to as for in these petitions, starting from 50% to as excessive as 250%, are already having an adversarial affect on the U.S. photo voltaic trade and, if applied, would devastate the trade and every of our particular person firms,” the letter stated.

SEIA estimates that ought to the proposed tariffs go into impact, it could price the trade 18 gigawatts of photo voltaic deployment by 2023, which is equal to all U.S. photo voltaic installations previous to 2015. It additionally represents a large chunk of the anticipated buildout over the following few years. The trade is predicted so as to add 30 GW of photo voltaic in 2022 and 33 GW in 2023, in keeping with estimates from vitality consultancy Wooden Mackenzie.

“We consider the numerous uncertainty is an actual threat for US utility-scale builders – initiatives may very well be pushed out additional with rising disruptions past poly [polycrystalline] and freight/logistics,” famous analysts at Financial institution of America.

The petitioners declare that the majority of meeting for photo voltaic merchandise imported from Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand truly takes place in China, which is why these items ought to be topic to tariffs. SEIA disputes this, saying that substantial work is finished exterior of China.

“We can’t emphasize sufficient how damaging these tariffs can be to our firms and the whole American photo voltaic trade,” the letter stated.

This comes because the trade faces a number of headwinds, together with provide chain disruptions and better uncooked materials prices.

In June, U.S. Customs and Border Safety issued a Withhold Launch Order on silica-based merchandise from Hoshine Silicon Business attributable to compelled labor considerations in China’s Xinjiang area.

In the course of the second quarter photo voltaic prices rose quarter over quarter and 12 months over 12 months throughout all market segments for the primary time since Wooden Mackenzie started monitoring value information in 2014. Moreover, some key provisions — together with an extension of the Funding Tax Credit score — had been overlooked of the infrastructure invoice. There’s hope inside the trade that the $3.5 trillion spending bundle will embrace substantial funding for clear vitality initiatives.