Solyndra has filed a lawsuit against several Chinese solar panel manufacturing firms alleging that a wide-ranging conspiracy drove it out of business.
The bankrupt USA-based solar panel maker believes that Suntech, Trina Solar and Yingli sought to destroy Solyndra’s commercial position by flooding the US market for solar panels with cheap products and fixing prices.
It is seeking $1.5 billion in compensation, according to a Reuters report.
The lawsuit is the latest development in a trade war between the US and Chinese solar power industries, which has now spread to the EU. Earlier in October the US government announced steep duties would be imposed on solar energy products imported from China.
Solyndra’s lawsuit, filed in US District Court in San Francisco, says that the three defendants “could not keep pace with the innovation presented by Solyndra’s technology” and therefore “entered into a conspiracy with each other and … with key suppliers and lenders to dump product at predatory levels”.
The three Chinese firms named in the lawsuit are all listed in the USA. Yingli said in a statement that the complaint was “unwarranted and misguided” and that it would vigorously defend itself.
Trina Solar says that the lawsuit by Solyndra is “without merit” and “baseless”.
A group of US solar panel makers filed a complaint in 2011 alleging anti-competitive practices by Chinese manufacturers on the US market. In September 2012 the European Commission announced that a complaint by EU-based solar firms had sparked an investigation into Chinese firms.
Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in 2011. The firm had attracted much venture capital investment as well as loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy to help it develop its thin-film solar technology and key projects. But poor market conditions – notably falling panel prices and a global oversupply of solar panels – caused the business to collapse.
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