Commerce Department sets preliminary new duties on Southeast Asia solar imports

On October 1, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced its preliminary affirmative determinations in the countervailing duty, or CVD, investigations of crystalline photovoltaic cells whether or not assembled into modules, or solar cells, from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Commerce is conducting concurrent antidumping duty investigations of solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, the Department noted. The announcement is the first of two preliminary decisions expected by the Commerce Department this year in a trade case brought by Korea’s Hanwha Qcells, U.S.-based First Solar (FSLR) and several smaller companies. Other publicly traded companies in the solar energy space include Array Technologies (ARRY), Canadian Solar (CSIQ), Emeren (SOL), FTC Solar (FTCI), JinkoSolar (JKS), Maxeon Solar (MAXN), Shoals Technologies (SHLS), SolarEdge (SEDG) and SunPower (SPWR).