A trade dispute threatens America's booming solar industry
A trade dispute threatens America’s booming solar industry
Business | Dark side of the sunCivil war breaks out between two troubled firms and many of their solar peers Aug 17th 2017LAST year California Solar Systems (CSS), a small installer of residential solar panels, decided to “Buy American”. It turned to Suniva, a Chinese-owned firm that makes photovoltaic panels in Georgia and Michigan, rather than use cheap imports. But according to CSS’s boss, Bastel Wardak, Suniva was unable to deliver what it promised, leading to unacceptable delays. He then tried SolarWorld, a more expensive producer in Oregon whose panels could also be marketed as “Made in the USA”. But troubles at SolarWorld’s German parent put a stop to that. Now Suniva and SolarWorld are seeking new protections from America’s International Trade Commission (ITC). On August 15th Mr Wardak was one of many to testify that the two firms did not deserve them.This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Dark side of the sun”Business August 19th 2017Efficiency eludes the construction industryMarine contractors have made huge leaps in productivityAmerican business leaders break with Donald TrumpA trade dispute threatens America’s booming solar industryComputer-game tournaments go mainstreamChina’s digital-payments giant keeps bank chiefs up at nightFrom the August 19th 2017 editionDiscover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the editionReuse this content