{"id":30664,"date":"2024-04-19T18:40:34","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T18:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/19\/chinese-export-surge-clouds-u-s-hopes-of-a-domestic-solar-boom\/"},"modified":"2024-04-19T18:40:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T18:40:34","slug":"chinese-export-surge-clouds-u-s-hopes-of-a-domestic-solar-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/19\/chinese-export-surge-clouds-u-s-hopes-of-a-domestic-solar-boom\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Export Surge Clouds U.S. Hopes of a Domestic Solar Boom"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/18\/multimedia\/00dc-solar-pjvk\/00dc-solar-pjvk-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Chinese Export Surge Clouds U.S. Hopes of a Domestic Solar Boom\" title=\"Chinese Export Surge Clouds U.S. Hopes of a Domestic Solar Boom\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Less than a year ago, CubicPV, which manufactures components for solar panels, announced that it had secured more than $100 million in financing to build a $1.4 billion factory in the United States. The company planned to produce silicon wafers, a critical part of the technology that allows solar panels to turn sunlight into electrical energy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Massachusetts-based company called the investment a \u201cdirect result of the long-term industrial policy contained within the Inflation Reduction Act,\u201d the 2022 law that directed billions of dollars to develop America\u2019s domestic clean energy sectors. CubicPV was considering locations in Texas, where it would employ about 1,000 workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But a surge of cheap solar panels from China upended that project. In February, CubicPV canceled its plans to build the factory over concerns it would no longer be financially viable thanks to a flood of Chinese exports. As CubicPV was gearing up to make wafers in the United States, prices of those components were dropping by 70 percent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The setback underscores the concerns rippling across the U.S. solar industry and within the Biden administration about <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/18\/us\/politics\/china-exports-biden-industrial-agenda.html\" title=\"\">whether President Biden\u2019s industrial policy agenda can succeed<\/a>. Top administration officials have begun warning that efforts to finance a domestic clean energy industry are being undermined by a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/15\/business\/economy\/china-electric-cars-chips-solar.html\" title=\"\">surge of cheaper Chinese exports<\/a> that are driving down prices and putting the United States at a competitive disadvantage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The fate of the CubicPV factory is the type of outcome that Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/27\/business\/yellen-china-green-technology.html\" title=\"\">has warned is likely<\/a> if China does not stop dumping heavily subsidized green energy products into global markets at rock bottom prices. She <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/08\/business\/economy\/yellen-china-us-exports.html\" title=\"\">took that message to China last week<\/a>, warning that its industrial strategy was warping supply chains and threatening American workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">China appeared to dismiss those concerns. Following Ms. Yellen\u2019s meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, his office said, \u201cThe development of China\u2019s new energy industry will make an important contribution to the worldwide green and low-carbon transition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Chinese overcapacity has been a central topic this week at the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Ahead of talks with Chinese officials at the Treasury Department on Tuesday, Ms. Yellen said that China was not operating on a \u201clevel playing field\u201d and warned that by producing more green energy products than the world can absorb, it was putting American firms and workers at risk.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIn the area of clean energy products where we\u2019re very concerned about overcapacity, we are highly reliant \u2014 the entire globe is \u2014 on China,\u201d Ms. Yellen said at a news conference. \u201cThey are the dominant source of supply in a number of areas, including batteries, solar panels, and the like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Worries about whether the United States solar industry can actually compete with China has echoes of past efforts to supercharge that sector. In the early 2000s, the United States used a mix of tax incentives and federal loans to invest in the industry. But as China began to churn out its own solar components, prices fell and startups like <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2011\/09\/23\/us\/politics\/in-rush-to-assist-solyndra-united-states-missed-warning-signs.html\" title=\"\">Solyndra<\/a> filed for bankruptcy. China ultimately became the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/03\/07\/business\/china-solar-energy-exports.html\" title=\"\">world\u2019s leading manufacturer<\/a> of solar components and panels, fueled by a combination of cheap labor and robust government investments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The stakes are higher this time around, given the huge sums of taxpayer money that are being funneled into clean energy industries in an attempt to make the United States less reliant on China for solar panels, electric vehicle batteries and other products.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Wednesday, Mr. Biden called for tripling tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum imports, and the United States Trade Representative said it would begin an investigation into China\u2019s shipbuilding practices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The new sense of urgency follows years of deliberations within the Biden administration about how to handle Chinese tariffs, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/04\/business\/economy\/solar-tariffs-caveats.html\" title=\"\">particularly those on solar products<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2022, the administration <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/06\/06\/business\/economy\/biden-solar-tariffs.html\" title=\"\">announced a two-year delay<\/a> on solar tariffs that were poised to take effect to allow for greater adoption of the technology in the United States. Last year, Mr. Biden vetoed legislation that would have reinstated the tariffs despite concern from Democrats and Republicans that the administration was not holding China accountable for its unfair trade practices.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Those tariffs are likely to be reinstated in June. And an exemption that has allowed two-sided, or bifacial, solar panels to avoid existing import duties is expected to be reversed in the coming days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For America\u2019s solar industry, the hope is that those trade barriers will arrive before it is too late and that the Biden administration will open new investigations to ensure that China cannot exploit loopholes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThese products are just flooding into the U.S. market, they\u2019re willing to take any price and they\u2019re just losing money on it,\u201d Mike Carr, executive director of the industry group Solar Energy Manufacturers for America, said of Chinese solar exports. \u201cIt\u2019s like a bankruptcy sale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Carr expressed hope that the Biden administration would protect the industry, saying \u201cthey are not without recourse to avert this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nick Iacovella, senior vice president of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, which promotes protectionist policies, said the White House bears some blame for the solar industry\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPoor trade policy decisions by the Biden administration, like the two-year solar tariff moratorium, have allowed China to severely undermine the law and continue to cement its dominance in the renewable space, and particularly in the solar industry,\u201d Mr. Iacovella said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Solar panel imports surged by 82 percent over the last two years, according to S&amp;P Global, with most of the shipments coming from Chinese manufacturers operating in Southeast Asia. During that time, prices for solar panels have declined by about 50 percent, according to S.E.M.A., the industry group.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While Republicans unanimously opposed the Inflation Reduction Act, which authorized billions of dollars in funding for the clean energy industry, they have been critical of Mr. Biden for allowing Chinese companies to trample over American industries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing this week, Representative Carol Miller, Republican of West Virginia, told the United States Trade Representative that the Biden administration\u2019s trade agenda toward China has been \u201cfeckless.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cChina is eating our lunch when it comes to competing for trade and investment around the world,\u201d <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ZeDfYL3Dq0Q\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Ms. Miller said<\/a>. \u201cThe United States is losing ground at every step.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The United States is not alone in its concern over inexpensive Chinese solar panels. This month, the European Commission initiated investigations into Chinese solar manufacturers to determine if state subsidies were giving those firms an unfair advantage. <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/2ea6bf6d-04e9-453b-a35f-cd6431cfc7bf\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">The Financial Times reported<\/a> that in Germany and the Netherlands, solar panels have become so cheap that they are being used to build garden fences.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Biden administration\u2019s clean energy tax credits and subsidies are estimated to be worth <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/05\/03\/business\/ira-climate-tax-breaks-biden.html\" title=\"\">$600 billion to $1.2 trillion over a decade<\/a>. However, industry officials have complained that money has been slow to get out the door and that some of the tax credit rules are too loose, allowing solar companies to claim credits even if they import components and assemble the panels in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The CubicPV factory was expected to produce silicon wafers, a key component of solar panels that are currently made almost entirely in China. But the climate law does not reward companies for making solar panels that are constructed with American made wafers. So when the price for solar wafers fell, the economic case for the plant unraveled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe business decision to halt the wafer project was a difficult one as we had made significant progress and had assembled a great team,\u201d said Laureen Sanderson, a spokeswoman for CubicPV. \u201cA key driver behind our decision was the historic drop in silicon wafer prices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">CubicPV will instead focus on developing a new solar technology, known as tandem modules, that have the potential to make solar panels more powerful and efficient.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Other domestic solar manufacturers have been considering scaling back their plans. Those that are moving ahead are watching the market dynamics with trepidations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This month, the sustainable energy company Qcells started producing solar panels in a new facility in Georgia that will eventually be the first factory in the United States to be able to produce all of the components of the solar supply chain in one place. The company, which has its headquarters in South Korea, is urging the Biden administration to ensure that the panels it produces can compete with those made elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe manufacturing of solar panels in the U.S. is critical to our energy independence, supply chain resiliency and decarbonization goals,\u201d said Danny O\u2019Brien, president of corporate affairs at Qcells. \u201cBut in order to compete with subsidized imports from low-cost countries, we need continued government engagement on industrial and trade policies that will enable our success for decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/19\/business\/chinese-export-surge-solar-boom.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Less than a year ago, CubicPV, which manufactures components for solar panels, announced that it had secured more than $100 million in financing to build a $1.4 billion factory in the United States. The company planned to produce silicon wafers, a critical part of the technology that allows solar panels to turn sunlight into electrical [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/04\/18\/multimedia\/00dc-solar-pjvk\/00dc-solar-pjvk-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2413,3394,29428,6435,12585,5791,362,2130,221],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30664"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30666,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30664\/revisions\/30666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}