The Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) is a consortium of seven U.S. domestic producers of crystalline silicon solar technology, the conventional form of solar panels that researchers for Bell Labs invented in the early 1950s. The coalition’s central purpose is to hold China accountable to U.S. and international trade law by filing antidumping and countervailing duty trade remedy petitions. The coalition is led by SolarWorld, the largest U.S. solar manufacturer. The coalition’s six other members will not be publicly named upon filing of CASM’s trade petitions with the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. However, together CASM companies have manufacturing sites in virtually all regions of the United States: Northwest, California, Southwest, Midwest, Northeast and South. The coalition manufacturing operations sustain thousands of U.S. jobs, directly and indirectly. CASM’s website can be found at www.americansolarmanufacturing.org; its email address is contact@americansolarmanufacturing.org.
SolarWorld (www.solarworld.com) is a fully integrated manufacturer that focuses exclusively on solar technology. In direct solar equipment manufacturing, it produces silicon crystal, cuts crystal into wafers, produces photovoltaic cells from wafers and assembles cells into panels. In the United States, the company employs more than 1,100 employees at its U.S. headquarters in Hillsboro, Ore., and its commercial hub for the Americas in Camarillo, Calif. Gordon Brinser is president of SolarWorld Industries America Inc., based at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Hillsboro; Kevin Kilkelly is president of SolarWorld Americas, the Camarillo-based commercial operation. SolarWorld integrated the company’s Camarillo site, which dates to the mid-1970s’ dawn of mass solar-technology manufacturing, after a corporate acquisition in 2006. In Hillsboro, the company has about 750,000 square feet of manufacturing and office space on a 97-acre site. The company, involved in all phases of the direct manufacturing value chain, also provides the full array of services required to undertake project-scale installations. Worldwide, the company employs about 3,500 people, has its global headquarters in Bonn and operates a manufacturing complex in Freiberg, Germany.
Wiley Rein (www.wileyrein.com) is a law firm based in Washington, D.C., that offers a unique integration of legal, regulatory, litigation and public policy expertise with an in-depth understanding of the business and technical foundation of the industries that it serves. Founded in 1983, Wiley Rein employs more than 275 attorneys at its offices in Washington and in McLean, Va. Wiley Rein's International Trade Practice, recognized by Chambers USA as one of the country's elite, represents clients in domestic and international trade regulation matters, market access issues and dispute resolution. Partner Tim Brightbill, lead attorney on the coalition trade case, has specialized in international trade law and policy for 15 years. Brightbill earned his law degree at Georgetown University Law Center, where he is also currently an adjunct professor, teaching international trade law and regulation.