China may leave world without solar panels

In a mirror image of what the United States has been doing with semiconductor lithography technology, China has recently amended its rules to ban the export of several core solar panel technologies in order to maintain its leading status and global market share in the sector.

China is the world's largest supplier of solar panels. Since last year, 55% of exports goes to European countries. A solar panel on a rooftop may include a hundred pieces of silicon and China has the lead now in machinery to manufacture those. In 2011, the US Commerce Department ruled that China was dumping solar panels in the US market. In 2012, it imposed duties on Chinese solar panels. According to Asia Times. Chinese manufacturers have been forbidden to use their large silicon, black silicon and cast-mono silicon technologies overseas, according to the newly-amended export guidelines published by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

How technologies were exported 

Chinese firms produce more than 80% of the world’s solar panels and modules but have faced heavy tariffs imposed by the United States over the past decade. Some of them moved their facilities to Thailand and Malaysia to avoid the tariffs but Beijing does not want them to take their core technologies abroad.

Technology experts said China wanted to prevent India from becoming one of the world’s major solar panel suppliers.

Some Chinese solar panel makers moved to Taiwan to try to evade the tariffs but the US expanded its tariffs to apply to the island. They then moved to Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Last June, the Biden administration said it would waive tariffs on solar panels imported to the US from these four countries for 24 months.

Import/export guidelines

To forbid more Chinese firms to transfer their core silicon technologies overseas, China’s commerce ministry last month proposed to include these technologies in its import and export guidelines. This may sound like closing door after the horse is out of the barn, but that’s not quite the case. Companies may have moved some machines abroad already to make large-sized silicon – but when they need parts, machines and technical support they cannot any longer buy from mainland China

Beijing also proposed to restrict the export of the country’s laser radar, genome editing and agricultural cross-breeding technologies. A public consultation began on December 30 and ended on January 28. After the consultation, the commerce industry decided to ban the export of large silicon, black silicon and cast-mono passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) technologies.