|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Fri, 17th Apr 2020 16:51:00 |
|
Trump Administration Removes Tariff Exemption for Bifacial Solar Panels — Again |
The Trump administration will once again withdraw an exclusion it had previously granted to two-sided solar panels, after determining "the bifacial solar panel exclusion is undermining the objectives" of the Section 201 tariffs placed on solar cells and modules in January 2018. The U.S. Trade Representative published the withdrawal notice in the Federal Register on Friday.
The move would eliminate the uncertainty surrounding the exemption — which had been instituted, withdrawn and reestablished over the course of several months last year — but it's sure to be met with opposition from some segments of the solar industry.
The exclusion for bifacial panels, one of two the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) granted to the solar tariffs, set off a tussle within the solar industry when it was established in June 2019. Companies that had invested in U.S. manufacturing plants in the wake of the Section 201 tariffs, such as Hanwha Q Cells, and an original petitioner of the tariffs, Suniva, opposed the exclusion, arguing it helped internationally manufactured panels undercut domestically produced product. The vast majority of bifacial panels are made outside the U.S.
But the industry's largest U.S. trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, has contended the exclusion provides vital support to a budding technology.
Just before the administration withdrew the bifacial exemption in October, developer Invenergy Renewables filed a legal challenge arguing that the USTR hadn't allowed for proper comment or notice prior to the withdrawal. In December, the U.S. Court of International Trade sided with Invenergy, allowing the exclusion to stand. In January, the administration restarted the process by requesting comment on the future of the exclusion. The court must lift its injunction for the withdrawal to apply.
Though two-sided solar panels represent a small proportion of those used in U.S. solar installations to date, they are quickly becoming the norm for some developers. BP-backed solar developer Lightsource, for instance, has used the technology in all its projects since mid-2019. By 2022, IHS Markit forecasts bifacial modules will make up one-third of worldwide production.
In the shorter term, SEIA told Greentech Media, the industry viewed the exclusion as a means to cope with an "acute shortage" of domestic panels available to U.S. utility-scale projects.
Read original full article
|
| |
|
|
Back to Featured Articles
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Energy News
|
|
| |
| |
