Add South Korea to the list of countries American solar panel manufacturers are asking the U.S. Dept. of Commerce to investigate for circumventing antidumping/countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders.
Heliene of Minnesota, SEG Solar of Texas and Canadian Solar’s Indiana cell manufacturing outfit have joined under the “American Manufacturers for Energy Resilience” banner to file the investigation request. The three companies claim that South Korea has become the largest source of solar cell imports into the United States, largely driven by conglomerate Hanwha and its solar subsidiary Qcells. They say that Hanwha is circumventing Chinese AD/CVD orders by doing “minimal work” in South Korea.
Credit: Qcells
AD/CVD orders on solar cells and panels from China originated in 2012, after the U.S. government determined that China was dumping solar panel products into the American market at prices that prevented domestic manufacturers from competing. More AD/CVD orders have been levied against countries the United States determined were doing minimal processing of Chinese inputs and therefore circumventing the original tariffs. First came Taiwan, then Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The Dept. of Commerce is currently deciding what kind of tariffs should be placed on solar products from India, Indonesia and Laos.
The Alliance for American Solar Manufacturing and Trade, a group of American solar panel manufacturers that is typically behind AD/CVD investigation requests, filed a new petition last month against Ethiopia. The Dept. of Commerce is still deciding whether to start that investigation. The Alliance, which includes big hitters First Solar and Qcells, is not involved with this latest Korean filing.
The American Manufacturers for Energy Resilience (AMER), represented by law firm Lighthill PC, says that Hanwha uses Chinese wafers in its South Korea-produced solar cells, which the Dept. of Commerce has determined is a “minor or insignificant process” that circumvents the original Chinese AD/CVD orders. AMER says that other Korean cell exporters may include HD Hyundai Energy Solutions and Shinsung E&G, but Hanwha is the dominant Korean exporter of solar cells.
According to U.S. International Trade Commission data, South Korea has been the top country of origin for solar cell imports for the last three months of provided data:
The Dept. of Commerce has 30 days to initiate an investigation.
A few notes:
- Qcells operates a solar panel assembly facility in Georgia and just this month started manufacturing at its cell factory, also in Georgia. Many (if not all) of the imported Korean cells over the last few months were used in panels assembled by Qcells.
- SEG Solar, one of the petitioners for this Korean investigation, manufactures cells for its Texas-assembled panels in Indonesia, one of the countries currently under investigation, as petitioned by Qcells.
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