Bill Yerkes, the visionary entrepreneur who pioneered the solar-panel manufacturing industry, today announced his support for U.S. solar manufacturers that are fighting what they allege to be unfairly traded Chinese imports.
Efficiency has been my credo as an engineer, businessman and manufacturer, said Yerkes, who lives in Santa Barbara. Nearly 40 years of honest competition across the world has increased efficiencies and steadily brought down costs and prices. I profoundly hope not to see healthy competition destroyed by one countrys trade aggression. Creating an industry to produce a renewable-energy product predominately for the purpose of displacing producers in markets thousands of miles away disrupts the efficient operation of the global solar industry.
For these reasons, I wholeheartedly support the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing in its effort to hold China accountable for anti-competitive trade practices.
Yerkes has worked in key roles in the industry since the 1960s, when he oversaw development of a solar array that Apollo 11 left behind on the moon. In 1975, he founded Solar Technology International, pioneering the manufacturing process of laminating delicate photovoltaic cells into sturdy solar panels. After Atlantic Richfield Co. Inc. purchased Solar Technology International, he led ARCO Solar in Camarillo, Calif., reaching industry milestones such as the first 1 megawatt of annual production and the first 1 MW installation project. ARCO Solar was acquired by Siemens, and later Shell, before SolarWorld Industries Americas Inc. bought the Shell unit in 2006. SolarWorld is leading CASM, totaling seven manufacturers, in advancing a federal trade case against China.
Bill Yerkes was the first big visionary who saw what solar power could do for the world, said Raju Yenamandra, SolarWorlds vice president for sales and business development in the Americas and an employee of the Camarillo site since 1980. His vision called for bringing solar power to people of all geographies and operating manufacturing plants in the big markets to meet their demands most precisely, efficiently and independently. Its clear that Chinas campaign to build huge manufacturing capacities, dump exports into foreign markets and thereby drive out efficient competitors without developing a much-needed domestic market of its own has gone in the opposite direction.
Bill is the father of the solar manufacturing industry, Yenamandra said, and he has never doubted that sound manufacturing and competition would best realize his aims for solar. SolarWorld and its coalition partners believe he is right.
On Dec. 2, the U.S. International Trade Commission unanimously issued a preliminary ruling that Chinese trade practices are harming the U.S. domestic solar industry. The next step in the trade case will be a preliminary determination by the U.S. Department of Commerce on Jan. 12 on whether to impose countervailing import duties to offset the effects of any illegal Chinese subsidies.
Commerce also could rule on whether Chinese exporters have shipped massive amounts of product in an attempt to avoid duties; if so, U.S. importers would have to post bonds or cash deposits on tariffs on imports back to October 14, 2011. The Commerce Department also is scheduled on March 27 to determine whether separate duties should be imposed to offset the effects of Chinese import pricing at artificially low prices.
