Crystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells, Whether or Not Assembled Into Modules, From Thailand: Preliminary Affirmative Countervailing Duty Determination, Preliminary Affirmative Critical Circumstances Determination, in Part, and Alignment of Final Determination With Final Antidumping Duty Determination

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 703(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation on May 20, 2024. On July 3, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation. On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. The deadline for the preliminary determination is now September 30, 2024.

For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. A list of topics discussed in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

Scope of the Investigation

The products covered by this investigation are solar cells. For a complete description of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix I.

Scope Comments

In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations, the Initiation Notice set aside a period of time for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage, ( i.e., scope). We received several comments concerning the scope of this investigation, as well as in the companion less-than-fair-value (LTFV) and other countervailing duty (CVD) investigations of solar cells, as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. We intend to issue our preliminary decision regarding the scope of the LTFV and CVD investigations in the preliminary determinations of the companion LTFV investigations, the deadline of which is November 27, 2024. We will incorporate the scope decisions from the LTFV investigations into the scope of the final CVD determination for this investigation after considering any relevant comments submitted in scope case and rebuttal briefs.

Methodology

Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 701 of the Act. For each of the subsidy programs found to be countervailable, Commerce preliminarily determines that there is a subsidy, i.e., a financial contribution by an “authority” that gives rise to a benefit to the recipient, and that the subsidy is specific. In making its determination, Commerce relied, in part, on facts otherwise available. Further, because Commerce found that certain parties did not act to the best of their abilities to respond to Commerce's requests for information, Commerce has drawn an adverse inference where appropriate in selecting from among the facts otherwise available. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Preliminary Affirmative Determination of Critical Circumstances, in Part

In accordance with section 703(e)(1) of the Act, Commerce preliminarily determines that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to mandatory respondent Trina Solar Science & Technology (Thailand) Ltd. (TTL), which received a de minimis preliminary net countervailable subsidy rate. However, Commerce preliminarily determines that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of subject merchandise from (1) Sunshine Electrical Energy (Sunshine Electrical); and (2) Taihua New Energy (Thailand) Co. Ltd. (Taihua New Energy). Commerce also preliminary determines that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports from all other producers and exporters that enter subject merchandise under the All Others subsidy rate. For a full description of the methodology and results of Commerce's analysis, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Alignment

In accordance with section 705(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(4), Commerce is aligning the final CVD determination with the final determination in the companion LTFV investigation of solar cells from Thailand based on a request made by the petitioner. Consequently, the final CVD determination will be issued on the same date as the final LTFV determination, which is currently scheduled to be issued no later than February 10, 2025, unless postponed.

All-Others Rate

Sections 703(d) and 705(c)(5)(A) of the Act state that in the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for companies not individually examined. Section 705(c)(5)(A)(i) of the Act states that for companies not individually investigated, Commerce will determine an “all-others” rate equal to the weighted average countervailable subsidy rates established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis countervailable subsidy rates, and any rates determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. If the rates established for all exporters and producers individually investigated are zero, de minimis, or determined entirely under facts available, Commerce may use any reasonable method to establish an all-others rate. For this preliminary determination, Commerce has determined Sunshine Electrical's and Taihua New Energy's rates entirely under facts available with an adverse inference. Additionally, TTL's preliminary subsidy rate is de minimis. Therefore, in accordance with section 705(c)(5)(A)(ii) of the Act, we are preliminarily applying a simple average of the subsidy rates calculated for Sunshine Electrical, Taihua New Energy, and TTL as the all-others rate.

Preliminary Determination

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated countervailable subsidy rates exist: