The US Department of Commerce is to announce a preliminary ruling next week on Chinese government subsidies to solar producers, the US unit of SolarWorld AG said in a statement.
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department is set to make public its first determination on whether solar products imported from China and Taiwan harmed US producers in relation to several subsidy allegations submitted by SolarWorld Industries America Inc in a complaint filed on Dec. 31 last year.
The latest case follows an investigation into China’s solar subsidies in 2012, which resulted in punitive duties of 14 to 15 percent on all Chinese producers, causing many of them to avoid the duties by buying solar cells manufactured in Taiwan or other countries.
“The new cases would address Chinese evasion of the initial trade case by applying the duties to Chinese solar panels made with Chinese wafers or other inputs, even if the cells are made in a third country,” SolarWorld Industries said in the statement issued on Wednesday.
In addition, the department is scheduled to issue a preliminary ruling on anti-dumping duties against Chinese and Taiwanese producers on July 25, Hillsboro, Oregon-based SolarWorld Industries said.
The company has complained that Chinese solar producers — such as Canadian Solar Inc (阿特斯陽光電力), Suntech Power Holdings Co (尚德電力), Trina Solar Ltd (天合光能) and Yingli Green Energy Holding (英利綠色能源) — have received government assistance to make their extrusions of polysilicon to solar glass and to aluminum more competitive overseas.
The assistance from the Chinese government reportedly includes cash grants, discounted loans and loan guarantees, as well as free land and utilities, the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the US said.
The company said next week’s ruling has great importance for the US solar industry, adding that many founding members of the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) industry trade group are either struggling or out of business because of unfair competition from Chinese producers.
Last week, major Chinese solar panel makers issued a joint statement opposing the US government’s anti-dumping investigation and denying the subsidy allegations.
Trade tensions are increasing between the US and China.
On May 19, the US Department of Justice charged five members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army with cyberespionage targeting SolarWorld, five other US companies and a labor union.
“We look forward to the Commerce Department’s ruling, which could be a very important step toward returning fair competition to the solar market,” SolarWorld Industries president Mukesh Dulani said in the statement. “China’s pervasive subsidies distort the marketplace and have harmed the US solar manufacturing industry for years. Enough is enough.”
Separately, TSMC Solar Ltd (台積太陽能), a subsidiary of contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), yesterday said it had recruited a veteran of the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory to boost its research and development program for copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cells.
Rommel Noufi, a principal scientist at the laboratory for 33 years who focused on CIGS and cadmium telluride cell research, is expected to help improve the company’s module efficiency over the next several years, TSMC Solar said in a statement.
The Greater Taichung-based company is expanding its capacity from the current 40 megawatts to 120 megawatts by the fourth quarter of this year, it said.
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