The Solar War: U.S. v. China Tariff Decision Nears

[Jason]

The final hearing before the International Trade Commission (ITC) for the United States' trade case against Chinese solar manufacturers occurred last Wednesday, October 3. In order for the Commerce Department's proposed tariffs to be imposed, the ITC must find that cheap Chinese imports have caused material damage to the American solar industry. Both American supporters and opponents of the tariffs believe they will be imposed. The Commerce Department is expected to make its final decision October 10, but the ITC won't make its decision until November.

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[Naptown]

I find it somewhat ironic that a German company with an American factory would have started this mess.
Most of the jobs in this industry are not in manufacturing but in installation, BOS components and service. American Manufacturing jobs in module production most likely are about 1-3% of the nationwide industry. And yes this includes people like truck drivers, port workers, roofers etc etc that derive at least some portion of their income from the solar industry.

[KRenn]

I find it somewhat ironic that a German company with an American factory would have started this mess.
Most of the jobs in this industry are not in manufacturing but in installation, BOS components and service. American Manufacturing jobs in module production most likely are about 1-3% of the nationwide industry. And yes this includes people like truck drivers, port workers, roofers etc etc that derive at least some portion of their income from the solar industry.

I'll never recommend SolarWorld panels to anyone I talk to. These guys basically screwed themselves as their panels were never that innovative or great, what you'll see happen is solar prices go up, but not enough to make their panels worth the additional cost, they'll eventually go out of business because they can't compete, but their actions will have long-lasting repercussions on the industry as a whole.

[Naptown]

I'll never recommend SolarWorld panels to anyone I talk to. These guys basically screwed themselves as their panels were never that innovative or great, what you'll see happen is solar prices go up, but not enough to make their panels worth the additional cost, they'll eventually go out of business because they can't compete, but their actions will have long-lasting repercussions on the industry as a whole.

I agree with that assessment. They make a nice panel but not worth the additional cost. We did a 1 megawatt system with their panels because it was a govt job and had to be ARRA compliant. No complaints on how they went in or with panels that didn't work on install there were no issues. IMHO the output overall was not worth the additional cost.
We had more trouble with a Solon (also made in USA) set of panels where we had 7 out of 200 defective. Granted it was only the power lead in the junction box that was loose, but we had to test each one individually after the first was discovered.

Not a big deal on the ground mounts where it was easy. But the 70 on a roof mount where they forgot to test and one was bad turned into about a 1/2 day to find on a roof install with 14 modules. Granted the roof was a 12/12 and metal which made working conditions difficult, those were the only defective panels we have installed so far. We have had some shipping damage but this was caught before installation.

[bonaire]

Rich,
Have you spec'd, used or have knowledge of the Suniva OPT US-made panels out of Georgia?

I have to make a decision on my own system and was spec'd SolarWorld 255W mono panels which are being ordered in a larger order that my solar guy is purchasing (I presume container order) for two other projects.

[Naptown]

Rich,
Have you spec'd, used or have knowledge of the Suniva OPT US-made panels out of Georgia?

I have to make a decision on my own system and was spec'd SolarWorld 255W mono panels which are being ordered in a larger order that my solar guy is purchasing (I presume container order) for two other projects.

We haven't used Suniva
Is there a vast difference in price per watt for basically apples to apples proposals?