US Solar Panel Export Sales and Dealers

Major International Buyers for Solar Powered Cells Made in USA

Mar 23, 2010
Daniel Workman

US Solar Panel Export Sales - OregonDOT (Flickr)

Germany and Canada are leading buyers of US solar panel exports. Find out who the other major international buyers are, as well as Canada's top dealers and distributors.

Solar panels are green energy products that can harness the sun’s energy. Solar cells on the panels capture, convert and distribute power to be used in many applications.

Examples include using solar panels in both commercial and residential buildings for:

Electricity
Interior lighting
Space cooling and heating
Water heating.

US solar panel export sales were US$1.01 billion in 2009, up 2.9% from $981.2 million during 2008. American companies exported modules of solar powered cells to major international buyers in 129 different countries.

Below are the top 10 countries that imported the highest value of solar cell panels from the US last year.

US Solar Panel Export Sales in 2009

Germany, Canada and Italy bought over 70% of made-in-USA solar panel exports last year. Powered by 3 highly populated Asian countries, the following 10 nations bought 97% of total US solar panel exports.

Germany … US$531.3 million (52.6% of US solar panel exports, up 30.5% from 2008)
Canada … $110.4 million (10.9%, up 379%)
Italy … $72.6 million (7.2%, up 40.8%)
France … $64.1 million (6.34%, up 11.6%)
Belgium … $63.6 million 6.3%, up 2.8%)
Japan … $35.4 million (3.5%, down 4.4%)
China … $20.8 million (2.1%, up 9.5%)
South Korea … $16.4 million (1.6%, down 78.5%)
Israel … $12.1 million (1.2%, up 997.2%)
India … $10.2 million (1%, up 50.7%).

Among the countries on this top 10 list, Israel and Canada were responsible for the fastest sales increases over 2008. India and Germany showed hefty double-digit gains.

2010 Sales of Solar Panels Made in USA

Although based only on US solar panel export sales for one month, demand for made-in-America solar panels in the Czech Republic grew by a factor of over 40 times. Similarly, 2010 sales of solar panels made in USA to Israel have so far multiplied by more than 100 times.

Germany … US$21.4 million (32.9% of US solar panel exports, down 38.6%)
Italy … $14.5 million (22.3%, down 9%)
France … $7.7 million (11.9%, down 21.2%)
Belgium … $7.6 million (11.7%, up 72.8%)
China … $2.8 million (4.4%, up 476.4%)
Japan … $2.79 million (4.3%, down 37.7%)
Canada … $2.1 million (3.2%, up 27.7%)
Czech Republic … $2 million (3.1%, up 41,154%)
Israel … $1.2 million (1.9%, up 10,512%)
Mexico … $822,565 (1.3%, up 219%).

Sales of US solar panels in China were up by almost 500% while Mexican purchases also showed triple-digit gains.

Yet, overall US sales of solar panels to international buyers were down 19.1% to $65 million for January 2010 from $80.3 million for the first month of 2009.

Harmonized Tariff Schedule Code for Solar Panels

American customs officials apply a slightly different harmonized tariff schedule (HTS) code for solar panels than the harmonized system code that, for example, the harmonized system code that Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) uses.

This is because the first 6 digits of the harmonized tariff code share the same international standards. Individual countries can assign the own numbering systems to the remaining 4 digits.

From the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (2010), the tariff description and HTS code for solar panels is:

Solar cells assembled into modules or made up into panels … 8541.40.60.20

Top US Solar Panel Distributors

Canada is a top 10 buyer for US solar panel export sales. Below are Canada’s major international distributors for solar powered cells made in USA.

Advanced DC Power Systems (Calgary, Alberta)
Aee Solar (Redway, California)
Arrow Electronics Canada (Mississauga, Ontario)
Becks Trading Canada (Thornhill, Ontario)
Canadian Tire (Brampton, Ontario)
Carmanah Technologies (Victoria, British Columbia)
Centennial Solar (Montreal, Quebec)
Conergy (Edmonton, Alberta)
Gro Solar (White River Junction, Vermont)
Kawneer Company Canada (Lethbridge, Alberta)
Sunforce Products (Montreal-Ouest, Quebec)
Matrix Energy (Kirkland, Quebec)
Optisolar Farms Canada (Arthur, Ontario)
Sanyo Canada (Concord, Ontario)
Signalisation Ver-Mac (Sainte-Foy, Quebec)
Viessmann Manufacturing (Waterloo, Ontario)
Windsor Industrial Services (Kingsville, Ontario).

The above 17 dealers and distributors account for about 80% of US solar panels exported to Canada. Among these are California’s Aee Solar and Vermont’s Gro Solar, two American non-resident importers that own operational facilities in Canada.

One of Canada’s largest retailers, Canadian Tire is one of the major US solar panel dealers. Canadian Tire imports made-in-USA solar panels for retail sale to consumers across Canada.

Sources: United States International Trade Commission’s Interactive Tariff and Trade DataWeb, United States International Trade Commission Harmonized Tariff Schedule and Canadian Importers Database.