“Eight US solar manufacturing firms filed a request with the Department of Commerce on Tuesday to investigate” several “companies assembling solar cells and panels in Ethiopia with components from China,” reports Bloomberg News:
First Solar, Qcells, Suniva and Talon PV are among the petitioners alleging Chinese cells manufacturers of circumventing US tariffs on solar products by shifting production to Ethiopia for export to the US. Imports of Ethiopian solar products went from none through June 2025 to $300 million by December…
Domestic manufacturers have filed a string of petitions in recent years to Commerce against Asian countries they say have been circumventing antidumping and countervailing duty orders on Chinese solar products.
In April, the Commerce Department determined companies operating in India, Indonesia and Laos were dumping solar products into the US market at unfairly low prices and levied preliminary duties on those imports.
Most US solar imports come from Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand and Germany, and only 2.6% from other countries.
Record numbers of solar panels are being imported from China by African nations like Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa. Solar panels help Africans cope with chronic power outages and lack of access to power from the grid.
In the dusty, hot African country of Chad, a program to import solar panels hopes to eventually
provide electricity to six million people, including in remote rural areas where there is no power from the grid.
In the Bébalem market in southwestern Chad, shopkeeper Denis Tarlembaye said access to solar lighting let him extend his trading hours and grow his income. “Since I acquired this kit, I stay longer at the market. This allows me to increase sales. Instead of an average” of $33 per day, “I make between” $50 and $58, he said.
Ferdinand Djeguemde, who runs a pharmacy, described how improved lighting let him serve more customers, including urgent cases, after dark.
At the Loumba Assonghor school in eastern Chad, school director Adjinei Mehram said solar power has radically improved learning conditions in an area where less than a fifth of the population can read or write. “The installation of an autonomous solar system enables students to learn in classrooms that are both ventilated and well-lit. The students even have the opportunity to come back in the evenings to review lessons thanks to the light.”
After a military coup in Niger, sanctions imposed on the country made it harder for the country’s inefficient electric utility to provide enough power. So residents of Niger’s capital city, Niamey, bought cheap Chinese solar panels and used them to power their light bulbs and TVs.
“Privately owned solar panels are taking over from the dysfunctional state utility in Niger, offering relief from frequent power shortages,” reported The Doomslayer. Its capital, Niamey, is the second hottest capital city on Earth. With 3,066 sunshine hours per year, Niger’s capital city gets about twice as much sunshine as European cities like London, Berlin, and Brussels.
Chad’s capital N’djamena is even sunnier. It gets 3,103 hours of sunshine per year, on average. It is the third hottest capital city on Earth. It and Niger’s capital are both among the ten sunniest capital cities on earth.
So solar power is much more practical in Niger and Chad than in much of Europe.
Chad is one of the five most backward nations on Earth, according to the Human Development Index. So many people there cannot get power from the grid.
Parts of Nigeria are also very sunny and amenable to solar power: Kano, the chief city in Nigeria’s north, gets about 3100 hours of sunshine per year.
A violent militia occupied the great desert city of Khartoum (the capital of Sudan) and stole most of its electric cables, making it impossible for residents and businesses to obtain electric power from the electric power company. So some residents bought imported Chinese solar panels and used them to power their electric lights and TVs.
