Bifacial Panels No Longer Exempt From Tariff's

June 12th, 2019, the U.S. Trade Representative announced that it is granting an exemption to the solar panel duties for bifacial solar panels. 

At solar power international 2019, a growing trend that was seen among the top solar panel manufacturers was the debut of new bifacial solar panels to avoid section 201 tariffs.

On Friday, October 4th, 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that starting October 28th bifacial solar panels will be subjected to the 25% tariffs that were placed in other imported equipment back in early 2018. 

Stripping the tariff exemption on bifacial solar panels is expected to be a setback to developers that are building large U.S. solar energy projects.

Though bifacial solar panels only accounted for 3% of the solar power market last year, it was projected that there would be a swift ramp-up in production as solar companies tried to avoid the tariffs.

Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables predicted a tenfold increase in global bifacial solar panel installations between 2019 and 2024, with a significant jolt from the U.S. market. It was estimated 2 GW of bifacial solar panel installations in 2020 in the United States, fueled by the tariff exemption bringing “much-needed relief to the module supply chain.” The technology is still on the rise but now not as quickly as expected in the United States.

The trade group Solar Energy Industries Association fought to preserve the exemption, saying bifacial technology held “great promise for creating jobs, right here in America.”

The Solar Energy Industries Association General counsel, John Smirnow stated; “We’re disappointed. We look forward to making sure the bifacial exemption gets a fair hearing during the solar panels tariff’s mid-term review process.”

HahaSmart will be following section 201 tariffs news updates as well as reaching out to solar panel manufacturers to see how they believe the new bifacial tariffs will affect them.

How do you think this new tariff will affect the solar industry? Comment below and let us know!

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