New duties

New duties on solar imports, Boviet’s first U.S. plant, and a breakthrough on new solar panel designs.

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Solar Dispatch
May 02, 2024

Good morning. In today’s Dispatch we’re covering new duties on solar imports, Boviet’s first U.S. plant, and a breakthrough on new solar panel designs.

Today’s newsletter is 764 words for a reading time of 4 minutes. Let’s jump in.

THE ESSENTIALS

Duties on solar imports likely, CEA says

  • Clean Energy Associates (CEA) says a new anti-dumping and countervailing duty petition filed by four U.S. solar manufacturers against imports of solar cells from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam is likely to result in duties being imposed on the import of solar cells and modules.

  • “This petition threatens to turn the oversupply of PV modules serving the U.S. PV market into undersupply, due to a potential bottleneck of duty-free cells,” CEA wrote.

  • This supply constraint could lead to project delays, cancellations, and reselling as duties get passed onto buyers, introducing uncertainty into financial models for solar projects.

Boviet to build first U.S. plant

  • Vietnamese manufacturer Boviet Solar will build its first North American factory in Greenville, NC, investing $294 million into a production facility that will produce 2 GW of solar panels and 2 GW of PV cells annually.

  • The plant will produce Boviet's TOPCon n-type solar cells and modules, aiming to capitalize on U.S. domestic manufacturing incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act.

  • Opening of the plant is scheduled for Q1 of 2025.

Flexible solar panels could improve energy capture, scientists find

  • Scientists at Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory and AMOLF have found a way to improve solar energy capture by changing the design of cells.

  • Rather than trying to improve the efficiency of cells, they used AI to model ways to maximize energy capture by making solar panels more flexible, semi-transparent, and able to fold up to allow installation in a wider range of settings and environments.

  • Another promising avenue is using optimized patterning and arrangements (like tessellations) of solar panels to maximize the absorption of available sunlight.

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WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING

  • MIT-spinoff 247Solar unveils continuous solar power solution. The company’s concentrated solar power systems use thermal energy storage to provide round-the-clock renewable power and industrial-grade heat. (More)

  • Nextracker completes major plant expansion. The expansion brings the manufacturing capacity of the tracker maker’s Pennsylvania plant to 4GW and was done in partnership with JM Steel. (More)

  • Energy Department promises faster transmission permitting. The DoE says it will set up a central process to handle environmental and permit reviews for electricity transmission projects, and require applications to be considered within a 2-year window. (More)

  • energyRe bags $235 million for solar and battery system. Once complete, the South Carolina project will be one of the largest battery systems in the state, with a 108 MWdc solar farm and a 198MWh Battery Energy Storage System. (More)

  • Array Technologies breaks ground on new plant. The $50 million manufacturing facility in New Mexico qualified for $2.5 million in support from the state, along with IRA tax credits. Array didn’t disclose the plant’s eventual production capacity. (More)

AROUND THE WORLD

  • Philippines to add 2GW of solar capacity this year. The expansion will nearly double the country’s total solar capacity, which is expected to grow to more than 11GW by 2026.

  • EU approves clean energy mandate. The European Parliament passed the Net-Zero Industry Act, which aims to ramp up net-zero energy generation to 40% of the bloc’s needs by 2040. The law will come into effect in 2026.

  • Huasun reports “record-breaking” cell efficiency. The Chinese solar manufacturer said one of its cells reached 26.5% average energy conversion efficiency. The claims have not been independently verified.

ONE BIG NUMBER

Overseas sales of made-in-China solar panels in the first quarter of 2024, down from $13.1 billion in the same period last year. Chinese manufacturers have cut prices to gain market share abroad, but some are now suffering big losses. One of China’s biggest manufacturers, Longi Green Energy Technology, reported a loss this week.

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