The United States Department of Commerce is expected to soon reveal the preliminary ruling on its second review of anti-dumping and countervailing (AD/CVD) rates on Chinese photovoltaic (PV) cell imports for 2012. This comes after the U.S. government agency concluded its first review of the 2012 AD/CVD rates on Chinese imports in July of this year.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to extend the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) on December 16. The extension, which is part of a tax and spending package, is now being moved to the Senate for consideration and is very likely to win final approval. The tax credit rate under the ITC was originally to be scaled back from 30% to 10% at the end of 2016 (December 31).
Spurred by major and emerging markets, global photovoltaic (PV) demand has grown substantially this year. According to the latest Gold Member Report by EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce, installed capacity worldwide for 2015 is estimated at 53GW, amounting to a 20% year-on-year growth. Next year’s total installed capacity is expected to reach 59GW, up 11% in annual growth.
The global xEVs (x-electric vehicles) market has performed impressively this year mainly because of the Chinese market, which has expanded due to strong government support. EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce, estimates that xEV sales in China will grow 20% year on year to 130,000 units in 2015; and the share of BEVs (battery electric vehicles) in China’s xEV sales this year will also reach 64%.
The downward revision of income tax credit for photovoltaic systems for next year in the U.S. has resulted in a general installation boom, which is prolonged by the planned feed-in tariff (FiT) reduction by the Chinese government also in 2016. The global PV demand is therefore expected to remain strong and generally unaffected by next year’s off-peak season.
