A hospital in Bonne Fin, Haiti has retired its less-than-reliable old diesel generators after receiving a donation of high-performance solar panels totaling 50 kilowatts.

SolarWorld provided the panels to Hospital Lumiere, a nonprofit medical facility that is run by a group called Apostolic Christian HarvestCall.

Located in an area that lacks electric utility services, the 120-bed primary care and medical-surgical hospital for years was forced to use diesel generators. In addition to being expensive, the generators often broke down or failed, placing the well-being of patients in jeopardy.

The new solar and battery installation is expected to provide all of the hospital’s energy needs to serve a population of approximately 60,000 people.

Hospital Lumiere is the fifth hospital in Haiti to receive solar panels through the Solar2World program, a SolarWorld effort that provides panels for community-focused electrification projects in developing countries.

The solar panel system for Hospital Lumiere was designed and built by volunteers associated with Smucker’s Energy, which is based in Lancaster, Pa. Civic Solar, a solar equipment and services distribution company, provided engineering support as well as reduced-cost components for the project.

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Solar is about to become more visible in a big way in Portland as Neil Kelly Co. prepares to place 400 solar voltaic panels on the rooftop of the Best Western Inn at the Meadows in North Portland.

The project is being handled by Neil Kelly’s Mr. Sun Solar division. The decision to purchase the solar company two years ago has been a good move for Neil Kelly, according to company president Tom Kelly.

“We had been talking for a long time about getting into the solar business because we were being asked by our customers,” he said.

The solar panels that will be placed on the Best Western hotel are unique in that they will each have their own inverter.

“It’s more expensive to do it that way, but it makes the system more efficient and easier to monitor,” Kelly said.

Once in place, the panels, which are being built with locally manufactured modules from SolarWorld, are expected to help avoid more than 100,000 pounds of carbon emissions annually. That’s the equivalent of removing 15 passenger vehicles from the road.

Neil Kelly’s division designed the 100-kilowatt system, which will help the hotel reduce its electrical load by 30 percent. The project will provide the hotel with $72,500 in cash rebates and provide the basis for federal investment and depreciation tax credits totaling more than $212,000.

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The trade war between U.S. solar manufacturers and China continues to blaze, and today the U.S. Department of Commerce stirred up more controversy with its announcement that any duties levied by the U.S. will be charged retroactively.

The -led celebrated the ruling, a response to what Commerce Department called “critical-circumstances” between U.S. solar manufacturers and China. The coalition sees the ruling as a step toward victory in its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade complaint filed last November.

But the faction of U.S. solar installers and other companies that oppose the trade complaint – the – today released a study that paints a devastating picture of the domestic solar industry if tariffs are placed on Chinese modules.

The economic analysis, prepared by the Brattle Group, finds that a 100 percent tariff on imported solar cells and modules from China would result in as many as 50,000 net lost jobs in the U.S. over the next three years. The study also anticipates retaliatory tariffs placed on U.S. exports of polysilicon to China, which could put nearly 11,000 more U.S. jobs at risk in the first year.

In response, Gordon Brisner, president of SolarWorld Industries America released a statement calling the study “highly speculative.” Brisner argues that the study ignores the illegality of China’s trade practices and the impacts those actions have already had on solar manufacturing jobs.

If the Department of Commerce imposes preliminary countervailing duties on March 2, the duties will apply to all imports of cells and modules from China brought into the country starting Dec. 3, 2011. The agency is scheduled to issue a separate preliminary ruling on anti-dumping duties on March 27.

The U.S. International Trade Commission issued a preliminary determination on Dec. 2 in agreement with the claims that Chinese imports are harming the U.S. solar manufacturing industry.

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last week announced plans to install nearly 1 megawatt of solar panels on top of its secondary manufacturing facility in Hillsboro.

The solar array, when completed in April or May, is expected to generate 1,200 megawatt-hours of renewable solar electricity annually – enough power for 200 typical American households.

The installation will complement two other projects already in place at SolarWorld‘s Hillsboro campus. The company last fall built four model installation arrangements to show solar installers, distributors and project developers.

The demonstration park features three 150-square-foot, pitched roofs; each is topped with a different SolarWorld product. It also includes a flat roof with ballasted and nonballasted installations and a free-field system featuring a ground-mount racking product.

SolarWorld completed a 30-kilowatt solar-covered carport using its proprietary canopy support structure above a parking lot on the site. The solar carport, which covers 14 visitor parking spaces, features 130 solar panels.

“The demonstration park is basically for our customers; as for the carport and the 1 megawatt installation, the audience for that is really us,” said Devon Cichoski, a spokeswoman for SolarWorld. “Those are to offset our own carbon footprint, reduce energy consumption, as well as to demonstrate how our technology can be used and to demonstrate new advancements.”

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An Oregon company is intensifying its search for space to accommodate Chinese solar manufacturers eager to avoid looming federal tariffs.

Eugene-based Grape Solar, a large importer of solar panels, is actively seeking Eugene-area commercial buildings with approximately 100,000 square feet of vacant space able to suit manufacturing. Ocean Yuan, president of , said he has visited the former Shorewood Packaging facility in Springfield several times and it could be a “perfect fit.”

“The process was very slow until a couple of weeks ago when I was in China talking to partners,” he said. “Now there’s a sense of urgency.”

Yuan declined to identify any of the Chinese partners, but said he will host several delegations in December. He is hoping that Grape Solar will begin performing final assembly of solar models in the first quarter of 2012.

Grape Solar has grown its business largely by importing Chinese and other foreign-made panels, packaging them into kits and then reselling them in the U.S. Although Yuan has had plans to begin manufacturing for some time, the sense of urgency is emerging from the federal investigation of a trade complaint led by Hillsboro-based SolarWorld Industries America, a subsidiary of SolarWorld of Germany.

SolarWorld and six other American manufacturers accused Chinese counterparts of receiving illegal government subsidies and dumping their products in the United States below cost.

If the Commerce Department were to side with U.S. manufacturers, tariffs would be levied on Chinese-made solar cells and solar panels, and the high import duties would make previously cheap products suddenly cost prohibitive, Yuan said.

In response, some Chinese solar panel manufacturers are redesigning their supply chains. The most economical plan for the companies now, according to Yuan, is to continue making wafers in China, shipping them to Taiwan or South Korea for conversion into solar cells and then possibly performing final assembly in the U.S. – potentially in Oregon.

“They have money in place and just want me to organize teams and help them out in setting it up in Oregon,” Yuan said.

Ben Santarris, spokesman for SolarWorld, said the manufacturing competition is welcome, as long as it’s legal.

“The difference in setting up production in this country is that we have to obey and enforce consistent environmental regulations and follow transparent standards of business and production,” he said. “Here, we have to honor the society’s labor rights and civil rights.”

SolarWorld is likely to win the trade case against Chinese manufacturers, in part because the World Trade Organization considers China a nonmarket economy. That allows other countries to use special, advantageous rules in anti-dumping cases.

“China is definitely going to retaliate,” Yuan said.

According to several reports this week, a Chinese solar industry association is now weighing whether to file an anti-dumping case against U.S.-based producers of solar products. The group alleges that the U.S. is dumping exports of subsidized polysilicon into the Chinese market.

“Unfortunately, our worst fears are becoming a reality,” said Jigar Shah, co-founder of the Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy and founder of SunEdison, in a written response to China’s potential retaliation. “Tens of thousands of jobs are at stake, and for what? Who benefits?”

Each week, more companies and trade groups throughout the solar supply chain are taking sides either with the SolarWorld-led Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing or CASE, which was formed in opposition.

Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), the trade association serving the manufacturing supply chain for the micro- and nano-electronics industries, last week announced its opposition to SolarWorld’s trade petition.

The group argues that many solar companies throughout the supply chain are dependent on exports, and the eruption of a trade war could negatively impact many U.S. exporters of solar products.

According to GTM Research and the U.S. Solar Energy Industry Association, American companies in 2010 exported $873 million of polysilicon and nearly $1 billion of manufacturing equipment to China, and imported $4 million of polysilicon and $93 million of manufacturing equipment.

“In the end, SolarWorld may win the lawsuit, which is the battle,” Yuan said. “But the American solar industry will lose the war against China.”

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A group of American solar manufacturers, led by Hillsboro-based , has ignited a trade war with China that has divided the industry – nationally and locally.

The U.S. Commerce Department last week opened an investigation into accusations made by seven American solar manufacturers that Chinese counterparts are “dumping” solar panels into the U.S. at prices lower than the cost of making and distributing them.

To counter the influx of cheap Chinese products, which increased more than 350 percent from 2008 to 2010, according to SolarWorld, the coalition is asking the U.S. government to impose tariffs of more than 100 percent on solar panels manufactured in China.

In addition to the seven manufacturers that form the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, approximately 75 companies have officially registered their support for the anti-dumping and countervailing duty cases that SolarWorld filed in October.

“At a time when we have such high unemployment and stagnant job creation, allowing foreign competitors to undercut the market just really isn’t fair,” said Keith Knowles, president and owner of , an installation company with offices in Beaverton and Pendleton. “If Oregon is going to be moved back into a thriving state, I feel strongly that we can’t undermine any efforts for domestic manufacturing to take off.”

Other companies expressed support for the petitions based on the belief that Chinese manufacturing might entail environmental degradation.

But another American trade group was formed last week in opposition to SolarWorld’s petition, which it views as harmful protectionism that will drive up costs and stunt industry growth. The Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy (CASE) represents solar-energy system buyers and installers that argue that the vast majority of American solar industry jobs are in sales, marketing, design, installation and maintenance – positions that depend on affordably priced, often Chinese-made, solar panels.

“Solar is one of the few job-creating industries in the U.S., and the imposition of tariffs would undermine that growth,” said Kevin Lapidus, speaking on behalf of CASE and also MEMC/SunEdison, where he is vice president of legal and government affairs.

For Sunlight Solar Energy, a Bend-based company that deals and installs panels, lowering prices is important for business.

“Inexpensive Chinese modules create more of a market for us, so at the dealer (or) installer level, it creates jobs,” president and founder Paul Israel said.

But some customers demand U.S.-made products, so Israel’s solution was to create two options – American-made “premium” installations, featuring mostly SolarWorld parts, and “value” installations featuring parts made in China and other foreign countries.

Even if individual American companies are benefiting from comparatively inexpensive Chinese products, the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing is accusing the Chinese government of harming the U.S. solar industry by offering Chinese companies subsidies that break international trade laws.

“We just think that as the largest and most experienced solar manufacturer left in the Americas, it is incumbent on us to lead the effort to defend domestic manufacturing,” SolarWorld spokesman Ben Santarris said. “We have the resources to counter what China is attempting to do to competition from the U.S. and to mount a challenge to (China’s) illegal predation on the U.S. solar industry.”

The flood of cheap Chinese products is the primary cause for a 40 percent decline in world market prices over the past year, which has resulted in thousands of lost jobs and seven U.S. manufacturers closing or downsizing operations, according to the coalition.

SolarWorld this year shut down its California production line, citing cheap Chinese competition as part of the reason for shifting all of its U.S. production to Hillsboro. Across the country, many nonmanufacturing job losses have not been announced, Santarris added.

But Oregon’s solar trade group has taken a neutral stance – its members include companies from both sides of the issue.

“It brings the issue close to home given that SolarWorld has such a presence in Oregon – they’re manufacturing right in our backyard,” said Glenn Montgomery, executive director of the Oregon Solar Energy Industries Association. “But it’s a perfect example of where the interests of one constituency could be counter to another. It’s difficult to say how this will affect the solar family in Oregon.”

The International Trade Commission will determine Dec. 5 whether Chinese exports have harmed the U.S. industry. If the ITC was to vote that there is no injury to U.S. manufacturers, the Commerce Department’s investigation would end.

If the ITC was to find in favor of the petition, the Commerce Department would deliver a preliminary decision on the anti-dumping claim as early as mid-January but no later than March, and could retroactively impose duties on importers of the Chinese modules.

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The federal Department of Commerce announced today that it will investigate Chinese trade practices based on accusations made by an Oregon-led group of American solar manufacturers.

Hillsboro-based on Oct. 19 filed petitions with the International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce alleging that Chinese manufacturers of solar products are illegally dumping silicon solar cells into the U.S. market. The trade commission immediately launched an investigation, and the Commerce Department has now decided to also conduct an intensive, year-long investigation.

Two executives from SolarWorld Industries of America, the largest U.S. producer of crystalline silicon solar cells and panels, testified on Tuesday before the trade commission.

Gordon Brisner, president, and Kevin Kilkelly, president of U.S. sales, represented the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing, which includes six other unnamed manufacturers of the crystalline silicon solar technology.

The petitions also assert that Chinese manufacturers are receiving massive subsidies from the Chinese government, such as contract awards, financing breaks and supply chain payments.

Brisner presented evidence that Chinese exports to the U.S. rose more than 350 percent from 2008 to 2010 and continue to rise. Exports from China in July exceeded those from all of 2010, Brisner said.

The coalition contends that the flood of cheap Chinese products is the primary cause for a 40 percent decline in world market prices over the past year. The results, they claim, are thousands of jobs lost and seven U.S. manufacturers closing or downsizing operations.

“We just think that as the largest and most experienced solar manufacturer left in the Americas, it is incumbent on us to lead the effort to defend domestic manufacturing,” said SolarWorld spokesman Ben Santarris. “We have the resources to counter what China is attempting to do to competition from the U.S. and to mount a challenge to (China’s) illegal predation on the U.S. solar industry.”

To counter the surge, the coalition hopes the federal government will impose retroactive duties on Chinese exports.

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announced today it will provide more than 60 kilowatts of reduced-price and donated solar panels to help rebuild a K-12 school in Vernonia that was destroyed in 2007 by a flood.

The rebuilding effort is shooting for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design platinum rating, and upon opening in fall 2012, the school could be the first K-12 school in the country to achieve it.

“I’ve been aware of their rebuilding process out there for quite some time,” said Amy Keiter, SolarWorld‘s community relations manager. “SolarWorld was a natural partner for assisting the school and helping them achieve the goal of LEED platinum certification.”

The solar panels will aid that effort by producing an expected 65,000 kilowatt hours of energy each year.

The majority of the roofing is done on the new school, a construction milestone that the district celebrated this morning.

“It’s like the great pyramids of Egypt over there,” Keiter said. She attended this morning’s roof-capping ceremony with SolarWorld president Gordon Brinser, who announced the company’s support at the event. “There are so many people over there at work, putting up girders, working on roofing, moving dirt, pouring concrete. Amazing things are happening every day out there,” she said.

SolarWorld will also donate $20,000 worth of technology for a separate solar installation over a covered play area. The and the will help Vernonia’s science teachers create a curriculum that will integrate the solar panels and help students understand alternative energy.

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Solar module maker SolarWorld has done well in U.S. island territories despite competition from cheap photovoltaics from China and Taiwan and its faltering stock prices.

Last week, I reported about how the German company, which has a large plant in Hillsboro, has been approached with take-over and merger offers.  Despite these offers and the trend of lower prices for solar modules (subscription required), SolarWorld unveiled today a 150-kilowatt, 1,600-foot-long solar panel array in the U.S. Territory of St. Thomas.

Thanks in part to federal subsidy programs to support American solar products, solar is popping up in other islands as well. American Samoa will soon have 17 solar equipped buildings that will generate 350 killowatts, which will help the island territory with high electricity costs due to a dependence on oil imports.

According to a by SolarWorld, American Samoa has already installed a 680-kilowatt system on 24 buildings using funding from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

“We get approached by Taiwan and Korea to buy their products because they’re just around the corner, but it’s very important to us to support the U.S. economy,” said Scott Hagen of Pacific Solar and Photovoltaic, the installer of the solar panels in American Samoa.

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Germany-based solar module manufacturer SolarWorld, which has a plant in Hillsboro, has declined a number of merger and takeover offers that have come up in light of its faltering stock prices.

CEO Frank Asbeck, who founded the company 13 years ago and owns 27.8 percent of its stock,  remarked that he refused the offers largely because the were much lower than what he believes his company is worth. In a recent , Asbeck said, “I didn’t sell my stock for 50 euros per share, why should I sell for 5 euros?”

But stock shares in the company fell 50 percent in the past 12 months to 4.67 euros per share earlier today, valuing the solar module maker at $740 million.

Bloomberg analysts are forecasting a trend of solar manufacturer bankruptcies, not mergers or acquisitions. Following a boom in solar cell building in 2010, interest in the renewable energy source has waned because of decreased demand in Europe, where governments are trying to curb a glut in installations and trim their budgets.

Solarworld opened its Hillsboro plant in 2008 and employs around 1,000 people at that location.

Photo by via Flickr

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