US to Set Minimum Price for Polysilicon, PV Imports
The United States will apply new price controls to imported polysilicon and polysilicon derivatives, and authorize the Department of Commerce (DOC) to establish an incentive program to boost U.S. production of the same, President Trump announced Thursday in a proclamation.
Starting at midnight on Dec. 4, new minimum import prices and a 15% ad valorem duty on polysilicon derivatives will take effect. The MIP will be $21/kg for polysilicon, $100/kg for ingots and wafers, $0.22/wp for solar cells and $0.38/wp for modules.
The announcement stems from a Section 232 national security probe that began last summer. Thursday’s determination is expected to have wide-ranging effects on the price of solar modules in the U.S. and the shape of the global supply chain for polysilicon and upstream components, the majority of which is controlled by Chinese firms.
A report from the DOC “found that polysilicon is essential to the national security and economy of the United States” as the base material for semiconductors, which are essential for radar and other defense systems.
“The Secretary also found that polysilicon is essential for the production of solar products,” the proclamation reads. “Solar-grade polysilicon and its derivative solar products are used to support various United States defense programs and artificial intelligence (AI) innovations.”
According to the proclamation, the U.S. share of the global polysilicon market shrank from 50% in 2005 to just 2% in 2024, and the country’s share of the global wafer output shrank from 37% in 1990 to 10% in 2024. This situation means, “in the solar sector, the United States is virtually entirely dependent on imports of solar ingots, wafers, and cells.”
The lack of sufficient wafer and cell production in the U.S. “is particularly concerning for the long-term commercial viability of the United States polysilicon sector,” as demand for solar-grade polysilicon now drives the vast majority of demand, the report found.
The proclamation authorizes the DOC to establish a program meant to incentivize production of these upstream components. Eligible proposals must include a commitment to begin construction by Jan. 20, 2029.
“If the Secretary approves a company’s onshoring plan, the Secretary shall allow the company to import necessary production equipment and Covered Products, in volumes the Secretary deems commensurate with the company’s newly committed investment, without paying applicable section 232 duties,” the proclamation states.
Tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 led to an unprecedented onshoring of solar module assembly plants to the U.S. There is more than 60 GW of nameplate American module capacity at the moment, enough to cover the country’s annual installation demands.
The 2022 incentives also led to a few wafer and cell facilities, but not nearly to the same extent. The vast majority of American modules are still assembled from imported cells. The number of polysilicon plants in the U.S., meanwhile, shrank to just two in the same time period. Only Hemlock in Michigan and Wacker in Tennessee remain, after REC Silicon closed its Moses Lake plant in Washington state at the end of 2024.
Reporting by Colt Shaw, cshaw@opisnet.com; Editing by Jordan Godwin, jgodwin@opisnet.com