The U.S. Department of Commerce announced a preliminary ruling earlier this year that some solar module manufacturers in Southeast Asian countries have evaded anti-dumping/countervailing duties (AD/CVD) imposed by the U.S. on Chinese solar products.

The ruling was in response to an anti-dumping/countervailing duty lawsuit filed by U.S. small-scale solar module assembler Auxin Solar against Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia in February this year. Just a few months ago, the U.S. Commerce Department rejected a similar request from an anonymous group of solar module producers seeking tariffs on a handful of companies that import modules. About 80% of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules in the United States are imported from Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. Auxin Solar claims that Chinese photovoltaic module manufacturers export photovoltaic cells and photovoltaic solar modules to these countries in order to avoid paying tariffs imposed by the United States since 2012.

According to estimates from the Photovoltaic Industry Association (SEIA), the implementation of anti-dumping/countervailing duties in the United States after Auxin Solar’s application resulted in a reduction of 16GW of installed photovoltaic system capacity in the United States this year, which accounted for 10% of the total installed capacity in the United States last year. more than half. Furthermore, in addition to delays and cancellations of PV projects, the implementation of anti-dumping/countervailing duties could put 70,000 jobs in the US PV industry at risk of cancellation.

A recent report by the US National Renewable Energy Laboratory shows that the cost of installing photovoltaic systems in the US has increased rapidly from the first quarter of 2021 to the first quarter of this year due to various disruptions such as anti-dumping/countervailing duty (AD/CVD) applications. rise. A survey report released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that although photovoltaic developers plan to install 17.8GW of photovoltaic systems in the first half of 2022, only 4.2GW of solar systems have been installed and put into operation, indicating that the supply of photovoltaic modules in the United States is facing a serious crisis challenges, leading to cancellations and delays of PV projects.