Tariffs

China continued to take center stage in Q3 2018; however the focus shifted from its now notorious policy change. In both positive and negative news, Europe announced the end of the MIP, at almost the same time as the United States slapped tariffs on Chinese imports of inverters, AC modules and non-lithium batteries. Yin yang. Ping pong.

The role of SunPower’s planned purchase of SolarWorld Americas in getting a rare reprieve from the Trump Administration’s bellicose trade actions is unclear.

In a major development, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has directed the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to fix the upper permissible solar tariff at Rs. 2.50 (US$0.036)/kWh and Rs. 2.68 ($0.038)/kWh for developers using domestic solar cells and modules (without safeguard duties), and imported products (with safeguard duties), respectively.

China has officially filed two complaints with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against the United States, in response to its 30% Section 201 and 25% Section 301 tariffs.

The company has experienced continued growth and after the acquisition of a UPS supplier – as well the potential for Chinese power electronics manufacturers to suffer under proposed new inverter tariffs – SolarEdge feels confident of continued growth.

Despite safeguard tariffs against certain imports of solar PV products into India, Chinese manufactured modules will remain competitive, says TrendForce. It further anticipates PV demand falling 30% in fiscal year 2018 in India, while cost pressures will mount for EPCs and project developers.

The two-year period of the recommended safeguard duty is very short, discouraging any investment in setting up new solar manufacturing capacity, say analysts and companies pv magazine spoke to. At the same time, for solar project developers, the duty will impact tariffs to the tune of 12-15%, posing an immediate threat to viability of projects under execution, they add.

GTM Research says the 10% tariffs that the Trump Administration is calling for are “significant”, and some companies and sectors will be affected more than others.

The solar mounting systems maker’s U.S. division has filed for bankruptcy, one month after the German parent company filed for insolvency.

The Vietnamese authorities have submitted a complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to request formal consultations with Washington over its recently announced 30% tariff on crystalline silicon PV imports.