Tariffs expose US solar industry’s vulnerability to imports

Cheap imports have fueled the US solar industry’s dramatic growth for years. Now, mounting trade and transport issues is exposing that dependence as a vulnerability, slowing shipments and putting big projects at risk, according to industry representatives.

Tighter availability of foreign panels could hurt the booming industry and set back President Joe Biden’s effort to decarbonize the nation’s power sector, a centerpiece of his plan to combat climate change. Some 90 per cent of US solar panels are made overseas, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Among the issues clouding solar’s outlook is an attempt by US authorities to block shipments of panels containing components potentially derived from forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region.

The Biden administration imposed an import ban targeting China’s Hoshine Silicon Industry Co  in June and since then, hundreds of megawatts of panels have been detained at the border, according to an industry source.

US Customs and Border Protection would not disclose the amount of solar products it has detained. China has denied that its solar components are produced with forced labor.

At the same time, a tiny domestic solar manufacturing industry has submitted an anonymous petition calling on the U.S. Commerce Department to impose new tariffs on some imported panels over accusations of dumping products at artificially low prices.

The Commerce Department is expected to decide this week whether to consider the request, which would affect imports from Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.

If imposed, those tariffs would jeopardize 18 gigawatts of solar projects by 2023, or enough to power more than 3 million homes, according to the US Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).