Solar panel makers seek dumping duties against China

Solar energy cell and module makers have moved the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping (DGAD) for imposition of duties on Chinese imports. The application has been filed against China, Malaysia and Taiwan. The Indian Solar Manufacturers’ Association said the imports led to considerable damage for local industry and a retrospective duty should be imposed.

This comes at a time when the government is also looking at several measures to weed out inferior solar panel imports from China. Of India’s 10,000 Mw solar power capacity, over 75 per cent is built on cells imported from China and 15 per cent from the US. Less than 20 per cent of the local industry’s capacity to manufacture 1,386 Mw of solar cells and 2,500 Mw of solar modules is in use.

Chinese solar power panels have been making their way into India since 2010. The price of panels has crashed to 32 cents per kWh from 50 cents per kWh in three years. This is the second attempt by Indian solar panel makers to seek relief. The industry in its application alleged 80 per cent of the market had been taken over by imports. “Two years ago, the government promised projects based on domestic content. But, after a World Trade Organisation ruling, the number of such projects has declined. So, we decided to seek protection from imports,” said an executive with a solar panel manufacturing company.

The first application was filed in 2012 against the US, the European Union, China, Malaysia and Taiwan. At that point, the local industry alleged 60 per cent of the market had been taken over by imports. The commerce ministry identified a dumping margin range of 50-60 per cent from the US and 100-110 per cent from China. The DGAD finalised duties of $0.48-0.81 per unit on solar cells imported from these countries but the finance ministry did not impose it.

A year later, Piyush Goyal, minister for renewable energy, assuring the local industry of adequate business, requested it to drop the case. The government bumped up the National Solar Mission targets five times to 100,000 Mw by 2022.