The owners and contractors to many of Australia’s biggest solar projects have written to the federal government seeking a review of a controversial anti-dumping ruling that they say threatens to cause delays and a blow out in construction costs, including for some projects already underway.
A decision by Industry minister Tim Ayres, as reported by Renew Economy in June, threatens to impose a 48 per cent duty on hollow steel tubing – including those used in torque tubes that support the mounting of solar modules – imported from China, Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korea.
The decision has alarmed the industry because of its potential impact, on costs and timelines, and because it is retrospective – to September last year – and so could impact multiple gigawatts of recently completed projects and others that have already signed contracts and are about to start construction.
The controversy centres around the treatment of hollow tubes that have holes drilled in them by their producers in Asia – Australian steel producers Orconn has argued that this is merely a ruse to get around tariffs.
The solar industry says it is a crucial part of the supply chain that cannot be met in the quantities required by Australian manufacturing, and they are seeking a review of that decision.
“We are concerned that, without a clear distinction between genuine circumvention and downstream fabrication that is integral to project delivery, the expanded measures will produce serious collateral harm,” the letter says, authored by solar tracking specialists Nextpower and signed by many others.
The letter says the impacts include a “significant cost increases on projects already financed and committed”, delays to construction and energisation milestones tied to contracted obligations; and an “increased risk to financing arrangements and offtake agreements.”
The letter also says a failure to reverse or amend the ruling with lead to “reduced investment confidence across Australia’s renewable energy pipeline; and broader impacts on the energy transition outcomes the Government is actively working to accelerate.
“These are not speculative risks. They are the direct and near-term consequences for projects that are already underway, many of which cannot readily be re-specified or resourced without significant disruption and cost.”
The letter was signed by a who’s who of the solar industry, including developers OX2, Lightsource, European Energy, Yes Group and Pacific Energy, and contractors and suppliers such as Nextpower, Equans (formerly Bouygues), DT Infrastructure, PCL Constructors, and Searo Electrical.
The tariff issue is the latest to hit the renewables industry, already struggling to land meaningful and long term contracts that would enable them to secure finance and begin construction. Another potential millstone, the removal of a capital gains discount for large scale renewables, has been deferred, to the relief of the industry.
The decision by the Anti-Dumping Commission, and its refusal to consider an exemption for this type of product for solar turbings has frustrated the industry still struggling to gain momentum and build enough capacity to meet the federal government’s 2030 renewables target, and the demand needs of major consumers.
European Solar, which is currently building the Winton North solar project tin Victoria and hopes to begin construction on the country’s biggest solar project, the 1.1 gigawatt Upper Calliope project in Queensland, says the ruling will provide additional challenges for renewable projects, and affect delivery timetables and costs.
Yannis Vasilopulos, the country director, says the most unfair part of the ruling is that it is applied retrospectively. impacted a project that already closed.
“We understand what the committee does, and we respect their mission – but for this specific case we think that the impact on the industry is going to be significant, and considering the goals the country has, we don’t think the market has the capacity to produce what is needed for the amount of projects.”
Vasilopulos says the ruling could add between 20 and 35 per cent of additional costs on trackers, one of the main components of solar hardware. “So it will have an impact on overall capex,” he said.
John Anderson, the CEO of DT Infrastrucrure, said the ruling will put pressure on project financing, cause delays in getting new generation into the grid and make future projects harder to get off the ground.
Australian manufacturing has an important role in building the energy infrastructure we need, and we support measures that protect it from unfair trade,” he said in a statement emailed to Renew Economy.
“Getting the scope of those measures right is also important. We’re concerned this extension captures purpose-built solar components and risks adding costs and causing delays for the projects that rely on them.
“For DTI and our clients, this could mean higher costs and pressure on delivery schedules, particularly on projects that have already been priced, financed, and committed. These parts are designed to meet specific engineering requirements. You can’t simply swap them out, and changing suppliers or designs takes time and adds cost.
“That’s why we’ve supported Nextpower’s application for review. We believe there needs to be a clear distinction between modifying a product to evade duties and the engineering needed to make a component do its job.
Prominent EPC contractor Gransolar wrote in its own submission that the ADC’s decision was “unreasonable” and was particularly upset that the commission did not take into account its submission in April, because it was not clear that the agency that sent its letter, World Customs Consultants, was acting on its behalf.
Yet Gransolar points out that the commission had been corresponding with WCC for months beforehand without questioning its authority to act on Gransolar’s behalf.
“It is notable that World Customs Consultants had corresponded with the ADC on behalf of Gransolar on numerous occasions in relation to the present inquiry, including for the purpose of filing submissions on 6 December 2025 and 19 December 2025,” the company writes.
“The Commissioner notes in the Final Report these attempts to file submissions, and the various correspondence during February 2026 in relation to those submissions.
“In none of the previous correspondence did the ADC seek an authority letter from World Customs Consultants in relation to whether it acted for Gransolar. Those correspondence reveal that the ADC was self-evidently satisfied that World Customs Consultants acted for Gransolar in this inquiry.”
Nextpower and the other industry players are asking the decision be reversed.
“This is not intended to weaken Australia’s anti-dumping protections,” it writes.
“Rather, it is intended to support Nextpower’s request for an outcome that gives effect to the policy’s intended purpose – addressing genuine circumvention -while avoiding unintended impacts on downstream industries and infrastructure projects that rely on integrated, internationally sourced supply chains.”
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Giles Parkinson
Giles Parkinson is founder and editor-in-chief of Renew Economy, and founder and editor of its EV-focused sister site The Driven. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast. Giles has been a journalist for more than 40 years and is a former deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review. You can find him on LinkedIn and on Twitter.
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