Silicon Valley-based solar manufacturer SunPower has finally returned to manufacturing in the United States as it announced on Thursday its newly-acquired Hillsboro, Oregon facility is now assembling the company’s high-quality 19% efficient Performance Series solar panel (P19 or P-Series) for US commercial customers.
American solar manufacturer SunPower has announced restructuring plans in the wake of Donald Trump’s imposition of a 30% tariff on solar modules and cells following a Section 201 trade case, which will see the company cut up to 250 jobs and incur restructuring costs of between $20 million and $30 million.
The recent news about tariffs on Chinese solar panels brought out how little MSNBC staff follow the energy industry and how little they understand what the problems are with this specific trade case. Bringing in CNBC Editor-at-Large John Harwood didn’t help either, as he also didn’t note (and didn’t seem to not know) the most important points of the story.
Suniva and SolarWorld Americas last week submitted updated requests to the US International Trade Commission that suggest lowering their originally-requested tax remedies on imported solar equipment, but SolarWorld further petitioned the ITC to impose a limit on solar module imports into the United States.
The US International Trade Commission on Friday voted unanimously in favor of proceeding with the Suniva/SolarWorld Section 201 trade case, finding Chinese solar imports are “a substantial cause of serious injury to the domestic industry,” despite the claims and evidence of virtually the entire US solar industry.
A rare and exclusive peek into Donald Trump’s Oval Office has renewed fears amidst the US solar industry that the current Section 201 trade case will result in burdensome tariffs, seriously endangering the industry’s growth and thousands of jobs.
