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China “does not want the United States to have its own interior [solar] industry… it’s a really terrible situation,” First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) CEO Mark Widmar told the Financial Times Wednesday, a day after warning a Senate committee that the The United States risks becoming “a de facto extension of China’s Best and Road Initiative.”
A surge in Chinese-made solar panels is driving prices to record lows in the United States, prompting U.S. power companies to favor imports over pricier domestic panels; In response, North American manufacturers say they are withdrawing expansion plans despite incentives available under the Inflation Reduction Act.
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Manufacturers, including First Solar (FSLR), have called for tougher enforcement of tariffs, such as introducing an exemption for the double-sided solar panels that make up the majority of imports and bringing forward the end of the moratorium on tariffs against Southeast Asia. imports.
“IRA subsidies are extremely profitable, but they are still not enough to compete with low-cost imports,” said BloombergNEF analyst Pol Lezcano, anticipating cancellations and delays in solar production commitments that have totaled 115 GW from when President Biden signed the historic climate law.
While First Solar (FSLR) said it did not expect the IRA would disappear in a Republican administration, the company warned that the loss of subsidies and weak tariffs risk turning the United States into Europe, where Chinese panels have overwhelmed the market and paralyzed national suppliers.
Widmar said FT“If we become Europe, where we just throw open the floodgates and China overwhelms this industry, it will be devastating.”