Declining solar cell prices likely helped offset the impact of tariffs on those imports some 18 months after they were implemented, U.S. Energy Department officials suggested this week.
The Energy Information Administration noted that although solar module imports declined following the announcement of the new tariffs in January 2018, they have since recovered to the same levels as spring 2017, when solar energy manufacturers Suniva and SolarWorld first petitioned the U.S. International Trade Commission to look into module imports.
In the first four months of 2019, the agency found, solar photovoltaic module imports — based on kilowatt capacity — were up 16% compared to the first four months of 2017. The import level remains shy of its late 2017 peak.
The EIA noted that module prices declined by about 50% from early 2017 to the summer of 2018 and have remained stable in recent months.
“Continued decline in the cost of solar PV modules may have offset some of the effects of the solar tariffs,” EIA analysts wrote.
The first 2.5 gigawatts of imported cells, and all imports from some developing nations, are also exempt from the tariffs.
