SolarWorld

The decision, released on U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer’s website, could keep current U.S. module manufacturers in business by keeping their cell lifelines open.

While the German EPC contractor has installed a 4.2 MW rooftop solar PV plant, the manufacturer has agreed to supply 60 MW of modules to the Turkish market.

The U.S. International Trade Commission delivered a report to President Trump that should bolster Section 201’s petitioners, SolarWorld and Suniva’s efforts to get the president to impose sanctions on solar imports as the January 26 deadline looms.

Trade cases, insolvencies, record-breaking low auction prices, China’s eye watering installation rates – all this and more characterized the 2017 solar PV industry. pv magazine reflects on the biggest stories, trends and developments of the past year; and summarizes what the industry can expect in 2018.

In this exclusive interview with pv magazine, SolarWorld Americas CEO Jürgen Stein gives his perspective on the Section 201 trade case, including responding to criticism of potential effects on the U.S. solar market.

The rulings by the separate commissioners are diverse, however neither quotas nor tariffs are being recommended at the levels called for by SolarWorld and Suniva.

The U.S.-based polysilicon maker has been in trouble since the imposition of Chinese trade duties on imported polysilicon in 2013.

The high-efficiency solar maker asks for Section 201 action to include First Solar’s thin film products, but to exclude its back contact crystalline silicon solar as a unique product.

As the first half of the Section 201 remedy hearing comes to a close, Suniva and SolarWorld have made a case for a combination of tariffs and either quotas or a 74-cent minimum module price, and foreign governments have sought exemptions.

In the most anticipated decision for the U.S. solar industry since the Investment Tax Credit vote in 2015, the industry now braces to see what sanctions the USITC will recommend to President Trump on November 13.