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China’s Chamber of Commerce Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME) has released details on why the US Department of Commerce’s preliminary determination is false and unwarranted.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has identified six renewable energy initiatives in the US that the Chinese government believes is flouting World Trade Organization (WTO) rules on subsidies and countervailing measures in addition to the 1994 GATT Agreement.
Almost a week after the preliminary determination announcement from the US Department of Commerce, organisations and corporations continue to make statements.
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has published the results of its latest feed-in tariff comprehensive review, effective August 1. Due to low deployment levels since April the government decided to push back the implementation of the tariffs by a month. The new rates for 4kW systems will be £0.16/kWh and the tariff reduced from 25 to 20 years.
Developments in the South American market, particularly in Brazil, have created such a buzz that it will play host to Intersolar’s first South America Summit in São Paulo in August 2012. Countries in the region are seeing dramatic increases in energy consumption of up to 30% per year, chiefly as a result of industrial development. At the same time, in nations such as Brazil, solar power is currently on the brink of grid parity.
Late last week, Vermont’s Governor Shumlin signed the 2012 Energy Bill into law, which among other benefits saw the state’s CLEAN Program expand from 50MW to 127.5MW. The bill outlines that the capacity of any distributed generation facility that provides “sufficient benefits to the operation and management of the electric grid” because of its location or other characteristics will not count towards the overall program cap of 127.5MW. Thus, this portion of the legislation mandates that no limit exists on the amount of clean local energy produced from facilities providing locational benefits.
While some analysts are calling for calm and urging cooperation, the US head of SolarWorld has voiced confidence in the US Department of Commerce’s announcement for anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports of solar material claiming it will restore competition within the industry.
Last week, the US Department of Commerce imposed tariffs of between 31 and 250% on solar imports from China. Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) has issued a statement calling for all parties to work together on measures to eliminate trade and investment barriers to solar energy.
Earlier this month, Chinese vice premier Wang Qishan and state councillor Dai Bingguo met with US secretary of state Hillary Clinton and treasury secretary Timothy Geithner, in Beijing to discuss Sino-American strategic and economic relations. On May 17, the US Department of Commerce announced in a preliminary hearing that China had been exporting to the US at less than fair value.
On May 17, 2012, the Department of Commerce has announced its affirmative preliminary determination in the antidumping duty investigation of imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells from the People’s Republic of China. Brought forward by SolarWorld last October, the DoC has determined that Chinese producers/exporters sold solar cells in the United States at dumping margins ranging from 31.14% to 249.96% citing this as “less than fair value”.
