Australian Antidumping Commission Recommends Scrapping Duties on Chinese Wind Towers

Australia's antidumping commission recommended against renewing the antidumping duties on wind towers from China when they expire on April 16, 2024. Issuing the findings of a sunset review of the duties on Oct. 16, the commission said that revoking the duties wouldn't cause damage to the domestic industry.

China's Ministry of Commerce welcomed the report, declaring that the move will help the two nations deepen cooperation on clean energy and achieve "mutual benefit," according to an unofficial translation.

The Australian agency said the move wouldn't harm Australia's domestic industry because there is an Australian industry capable of making similar goods, and 86% of the Australian wind tower market is now made up of imports due to a decline in the local industry's production and sales volume. Significant changes in Australia's wind towers market have led to a decline in its ability to "win wind tower projects," the report said.

These changes include the lack of available Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET) auctions -- a mechanism under which projects subject to minimum local content requirements are awarded -- along with changes in "wind tower design and construction" and "[g]eographical constraints." A lack of funding to the Australian wind tower industry also led to its demise, the commission said, noting that it doesn't have evidence of future government funding or capital investments that may boost the industry's ability to address its manufacturing capabilities.