India's Waaree Energies claims that the US anti-dumping investigation won't hinder solar ambitions

Waaree Energies, a manufacturer of Indian solar panels, said Tuesday it was "confident" in its exports to America and that it would be prepared to respond to any anti-dumping investigation. This came after a group of solar manufacturers accused the company of undercutting their prices.

The U.S. Commerce Department has reviewed a petition submitted on 17 July by a group domestic U.S. Solar companies seeking tariffs against imports from India. Indonesia, and Laos.

Waaree is named in the petition as one of several firms accused of dumping cheap panels at the expense U.S. manufacturers.

Waaree's first public statement after the petition denied the allegations, and stated that its pricing practices were transparent and in compliance with the regulations.

In an interview, CEO Amit Paythankar said, "We don't follow any predatory pricing practices. Therefore, as these investigations proceed, we are in a strong position."

The company reported that it had received 2,23 gigawatts in orders from the U.S. during the past quarter, and is increasing its manufacturing footprint to offset any potential impact of tariffs.

Paithankar explained that if you are a local manufacturer in the U.S., the anti-dumping duty will not affect you as much. Waaree plans to double its U.S. production capacity to 3.2GW by the end the year.

Waaree, despite growing regulatory scrutiny and policy changes in the U.S. Clean Energy sector, said that it does not see a slowdown in solar energy exports because of the power demand for data centers, "reshoring" manufacturing, and transportation electrification.

Paithankar added, "We see 100 GW in the pipeline with an important portion coming from the U.S."

The CEO stated that the company was open to organic and inorganic expansion, including acquisitions of companies in adjacent industries like battery storage or hydrogen. Sethuraman NR, Mrigank Dhaniwala (Reporting)

(source: Reuters)