SolarWorld Commends Trade Vote as Important Step in Favor of U.S. Solar Manufacturing

SolarWorld, the largest U.S. crystalline silicon solar producer for nearly 40 years, today heralded yet another advance in the renewable-energy industry’s return to fair competition, after the bipartisan U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) made unanimous affirmative preliminary determinations that U.S. imports of Chinese and Taiwanese solar panels are injuring the domestic manufacturing industry.

China has no production cost advantage and high-standard companies such as SolarWorld remain the industry’s technology leaders, the company said, but government-sponsored Chinese producers have used illegal, export-intensive subsidies and artificially and temporarily low pricing tactics to undermine them.

"Step by step, U.S. solar producers are returning to a day when they no longer are forced to compete with the government of China,” said Mukesh Dulani, president of SolarWorld Industries America Inc., based in Oregon. "Our own factories here in Oregon are surrounded by several campuses of Intel, the world’s largest semiconductor producer and a U.S. manufacturing success story. So please do not tell us that U.S. manufacturers who pioneered and built the solar industry cannot compete globally under conditions of fair trade.”

On Dec. 31, SolarWorld brought anti-subsidy and anti-dumping cases against China and an anti-dumping case against Taiwan to close a loophole in previous cases that concluded in December 2012. In late March, Commerce is expected to make a preliminary determination on anti-subsidy duties.

To bring its trade cases, SolarWorld has had to demonstrate that they were supported by a majority of the U.S. manufacturing industry. The company has the support of a coalition, largely composed of installation firms, of nearly 250 employers of more than 22,000 Americans. The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing stands for robust international trade free of illegal foreign government intervention as well as sustainable and domestic manufacturing.

About SolarWorld

SolarWorld AG manufactures solar power systems and in doing so contributes to a cleaner energy supply worldwide. The company, located in Bonn, employs approximately 2,500 people and carries out production in Freiberg, Germany, and Hillsboro, USA. From raw material silicon to the solar module, SolarWorld manages all stages of production ? including its own research and development. Through an international distribution network, SolarWorld supplies customers all over the world with solar modules and complete systems. The company maintains high social standards at all locations across the globe, and has committed itself to resource- and energy-efficient production. SolarWorld has been publicly traded on the stock market since 1999. More information at www.solarworld-usa.com