India hears US views on clean tech local content

As the US government tries to get APEC nations onside for its green agenda at its upcoming meeting, India's Hindu newspaper is reporting that US trade representatives have made it clear that local content requirements for in clean energy projects.

Speaking at international conference Solarcon India 2011, Francisco Sanchez, Under Secretary for Commerce for International Trade, US Department of Commerce was quoted as saying; “We must fight the urge to link our promotion of clean energy to policies that protect local industries with unfair trade practices.”

The comments, in light of trade actions against China's solar industry, take on greater significance when India's National Solar Mission guidelines for the ‘Batch II bidding' require PV cells to be produced in India. Earlier he had pointed out that the National Solar Mission USD19 billion spending was an opportunity for US companies, an exercise the US's Ex-Im Bank has already been heavily involved with.