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Suniva petitioned for Section 201 after it filed chapter 11, and U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has accepted the petition. SolarWorld Americas, whose parent company, SolarWorld AG, bankrupted in May, announced to join Suniva’s trade action.
ITC accepted Suniva’s filing of Section 201 to establish minimal prices for imported PV cells and modules, and will launch an investigation to “determine whether crystalline silicon photovoltaic (“CSPV”) cells (whether or not partially or fully assembled into other products) are being imported into the United States in such increased quantities as to be a substantial cause of serious injury, or the threat thereof, to the domestic industry producing an article like or directly competitive with the imported articles.”
Two days after ITC announced its agreement to Suniva’s petition, SolarWorld Americas declared to join Suniva as a co-petitioner in the Section 201 safeguards case.
“We have hoped and waited for serious proposals for settling the overall U.S. solar industry’s trade tensions with China, but we have received none,” said Juergen Stein, President of SolarWorld Americas. “Therefore, we have decided to join the case to pursue the best remedy available to us to restore fair competition in the U.S. market.”
“The U.S. solar industry cannot afford to give away the future of critical renewable-energy manufacturing industries,” Stein continued. “We must take a stand in favor of preserving intellectual property, production know-how and U.S. manufacturing jobs, all of which have sprung from a vital industry pioneered on U.S. soil since the 1970s.”
This will be another phase of solar trade war SolarWorld America involved in.
However, Section 201 is arbitrary to any importer, including SolarWorld America’s bankrupted parent company based in Germany.
“Considering SolarWorld America announced a notice of lay-off warn for its company in Oregon, this move indicates that SolarWorld America will try to find out the best way for itself, discarding its parent company,” commented an analyst at EnergyTrend.
Suniva welcomes SolarWorld America.
“SolarWorld’s ongoing efforts to protect U.S. solar manufacturing are long and well-established, and we are pleased they are joining this latest effort with us, as our industry now speaks with one, unified voice,” said Matt Card, Suniva’s Executive Vice President of Commercial Operations.