Solar 'poster boy' startup may be forced out of business
cnn.com
cnn.com
Apparently the "tough import policy" is a limitation to the 30% tax credit people can get for installing solar panels. The rules of the credit were changed in May to make it only apply to american-made panels: http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display...
His company, Sunrise Solar, encourages customers to take the tax credit for his products: http://www.sunrisesolar.net/
This appears to be where the potential fines are coming from.
In May, there was an actual 31% tariff placed by the US Commerce Department on Chinese solar panels:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/business/energy-environmen...
So I went to his website, saw the tax credit advertisement, figured that might have something to do with it and googled it.
And while your linked 31% tariff may be the "tough import policy" referenced in the article, I'm still having trouble understanding how that turns into a 250% fine.
Unless he can show specific manufacturing documentation
by August 29, Keith said he could be fined as much as
250 percent on his solar panels -- an effective rate of
$270,000.
The policy is intended to thwart China from undercutting
prices and flooding the U.S. market with cheaper solar panels.
China is subsidizing their solar manufacturing industry...
They spend $100 to manufacture a panel, only to sell it at $50. The government then gives that manufacturer $60 to keep them operating.
Their game is to keep doing this until the rest of the world can no longer afford to make domestic solar manufacturing viable.
This practice kills the US industry, and doesn't exactly lead to cheaper anything at the end... It just removes competition and establishes a monopoly that then gets to decide the price all by itself.
R&D is now moving to China, but a lot of what they've been selling has been technology that has actually been developed abroad.
P.S. I'll add with respect to the OP's article that as much as anything else, immediate and drastic changes -- that otherwise well-functioning businesses cannot plan for -- are one of the largest banes of government mis-management.
Businesses can succeed in a variety of regulatory and tax environments, but when there is no consistency and predictability to these, business stops. Where they have the ability, smart businesses start looking for other markets. Where they don't -- and small business is often by necessity a niche business; there is nothing fundamentally "wrong" with this -- they often cease to exist.
As much as anything, it's not a particular regulation nor tax rate that is "killing business" in the U.S., it is also the utter failure of effective government management. Necessary government management. Anyone who lived through the civil rights abuses (including in the workplace, mind you), pollution, and numerous other problems -- crises -- of past decades knows it is necessary.
You don't get investment without a corresponding, manageable level of risk.
And in any case, it's irrelevant to the tariff discussion.
Spinning a motor takes a fair amount of power, and they probably want the entire unit to be as small as possible. So I'm guessing he is starting with higher-efficiency panels (more power output per given area), and then possibly modifying them to run on different voltages for the motors.