China and Vietnam’s wind power equipment suppliers have become the subject of an antidumping investigation by the US Department of Commerce after being tipped off by a coalition of US-based wind energy companies. Imports of wind towers from China and Vietnam have grown rapidly in recent years, reaching US$103.6 million and US$51.9 million respectively in 2010, and provoked concern from US wind tower makers who fear being priced out of the market.

The coalition, consisting of Broadwind Energy, Otter Tail, Trinity Industries and Katana Summit, accuse Vietnamese and Chinese manufacturers of taking subsidies and pricing their products far below market value, threatening the future development of wind power manufacturing in the US. “

The outcry was provoked by the loss of a contract for US-made wind towers to Chinese and Vietnamese suppliers for the 338-turbine Shepherds Flat windfarm in Oregon, which on completion will be the world’s largest. “All of it went to China,” said Kerry Cole, president of Trinity Structural Towers. “This lone lost sale had ripple effects throughout the industry... After losing this sale, domestic producers were desperate to fill their order books."

The coalition had previously asked for a tariff of 64 percent on wind tower imports from China and a 59 percent tariff on imports from Vietnam, but these may not be sufficient, as Asian suppliers are undercutting their prices by far more dramatic margins. According to the coalition, the price of US manufactured wind towers is 214 percent higher than that of their Chinese counterparts and 141 percent higher than that of their Vietnamese competitors.

While there has been no response from Vietnamese equipment makers, Chinese manufacturers have already responded to the accusations. “"We are talking to the China Commerce of Ministry about this," said Wang Debao, vice-director of Chengxi Shipyard, a division of China’s State Shipbuilding which also manufactures wind towers. "We are hiring lawyers to challenge the allegations."

Managers with German industrial giant Siemens, which provides generators and manages the construction of many new wind power projects in the US, said that the Asian manufacturers have advantages other than price. "Domestic manufacturers have proved themselves unreliable and unwilling often to provide supply,” said Christopher Hauer, director of Siemens tower operations division in the US. “Siemens can not afford to be left without supply alternatives." Mark Schutzman, a lawyer representing several Chinese and Vietnamese manufacturers, also made a statement, saying that Asian manufacturers were chosen for their “reliability, capacity, track record and their ability to deliver in a timely fashion.”