GigaOM Pro

There was news late yesterday afternoon that solar manufacturers are preparing a complaint against China to be filed with the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Germany’s SolarWorld AG is helping lead the effort, largely due to its Hillsboro, Oregon PV production facility where it currently is in the midst of a $400 million dollar production plant investment. SolarWorld is already cutting 200 jobs at its Camarillo, California facility, and the new Senior Advisor at DOE spoke out this week about what the DOE is up against with aggressive credit from the China Development Bank. The reality is that China provided $30 billion in credit to solar alone last year, which makes the $535 million that Solyndra got look like a drop in a bucket. I’ve written about how the U.S. government should consider a more aggressive financing of renewables combined with small equity stakes to make loan programs sustainable. Because if China continues to finance its renewable energy industry at this rate, it’s going to be lights out pretty soon for the U.S. solar industry.