Bifacial PV modules no longer exempt from US Section 201 import tariffs

The U.S. authorities are currently subjecting imported bifacial modules to a 20% penalty – the same tariff applied to almost all other crystalline silicon solar modules.

November 20, 2020 Eric Wesoff

Image: Dennis Schroeder/NREL

From pv magazine International

The U.S. Section 201 tariff exemption for imported bifacial solar modules has been repealed, with panels now subject to a 20% penalty – the same tariff imposed on almost all imported crystalline silicon solar panels since 2018.

Here is the U.S. Court of International Trade’s ruling. The tariff is scheduled to drop to 18% in February. But the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) is opposed to the tariffs. “We are asking President-elect Biden to remove those tariffs a year early,” SEIA CEO Abby Hopper said in a recent press briefing.

Hopper added that signals from the Biden transition indicate an understanding of the impact of tariffs upon the industry. She noted that five solar companies started in the U.S. market and said that repealing the Section 201 tariff could cause U.S. facilities to fail. “It won’t come as a surprise to domestic manufacturing that those tariffs will end. It is not working,” she said.

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