Commerce Department to open China solar probe

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SolarWorld's Gordon Brinser, shown here with Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and and Sen. Ron Wyden, has been the front man in a trade dispute with China over artificially cheap solar panels.

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday said it would open an investigation into whether it will impose tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports following claims by U.S. manufacturers that China has been dumping low-cost, subsidized panels into the U.S. market.

The news prompted applause from the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, a group of U.S. solar panel manufacturers led by Hillsboro-based SolarWorld Industries America Inc. that filed the initial trade complaint against China last month.

“With today’s announcement, the Commerce Department is beginning its first investigation into a renewable energy industry and one of the largest investigations of Chinese trade practices,” Tim Brightbill, a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm Wiley Rein LLP and lead counsel for the coalition, said in a news release.

The coalition claims that China’s state-sponsored solar industry has flooded the U.S. market with subsidized panels, giving them an unfair advantage. It estimates that the Chinese government provided $30 billion in subsidies to its home-grown manufacturers last year, including $7 billion alone to Suntech.

Chinese exports into the U.S. in July alone exceeded exports from all of 2010, the group said. It wants the federal government to make a determination of “critical circumstances” that would require import duties be imposed on imported Chiense panels to offset any improper trade tactics. They want tariffs to be applied retroactively for three months.

“We are pleased that the facts have begun to speak for themselves,” Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries America Inc., said in a news release.

The federal International Trade Commission on Dec. 5 is expected to make a determination as to whether Chinese exports have harmed the U.S. industry. If it rules in their favor, the coalition said the first potential determination of “critical circumstances” could come on Jan. 12.

That means importers of record may be required to despite duties on imports dating back to Oct. 14.

The initial seven-member coalition has expanded to more than 125 members since its founding on Oct. 19. This week it received the support of the United Steelworkers, one of the nation’s largest labor unions.

But not everyone is on board.

The Chinese government last month made protectionist claims against the U.S..

And on Tuesday, a new organization — calling itself the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy — came out in opposition of SolarWorld’s efforts, calling it a “short-sighted” campaign that could result in higher-priced panels and slow the industry’s growth.

Among the members of the new group are U.S. divisions of Chinese panel-makers, such as Suntech America, and solar panel installers and project developers, including major names such as SunEdison and Solar City, that rely on low-cost panels to keep project costs low.