Chinese Solar Inverters Hit by Latest US Trade Tariffs

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

The latest initiative by the Trump Administration to increase the $ 200 billion tariff on Chinese products has changed from 10% to 25%, but industry analysts and sources say the move is expected to have an impact on the industry. solar energy market, thanks to increasingly diverse globalization. supply chain.

It was determined that the initial tariff would increase to 25% in January, but was postponed due to ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and China, which gave the industry time to prepare. According to analysts, UPS companies have taken steps to diversify their supply chains from China.

"Sellers are getting ready and people are waiting to see how prices are going down," said Lindsay Cherry, solar energy analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables. "Manufacturers have developed strategies, such as opening factories in various countries ... or changing capacity, maybe they already have facilities in other countries."

Buyers of investors in the United States have also diversified their sources of supply, because Huawei, the world's largest UPS maker, faces major challenges in the United States because of fears of theft and safety of the United States. Intellectual property rights.

"There is a lot of other skepticism about Huawei," said Cherry. "Many other factors influence them separately from this number." EE senators. Their law proposes a ban on February 25, which mainly affects their sales in the US. The Act Now, for example, banks are worried about financing projects with Huawei investors. "

According to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, Sungrow, which controls 15% of the global solar inverter market, was expanded to India in 2018 with the opening of a 3 gigawatt UPS factory. A spokesman told Solar Power World that the company would transfer all UPS production to the US. The Act to India is planted if the EE tariff is. Their law will increase to 25 percent.