From pv magazine USA
The solar industry is reeling from the narrow passage of the US Senate’s budget bill that left most of the deep cuts to solar regulatory support intact. Much is at risk including the incredible manufacturing renaissance that’s taken place in the past three years, exploding job growth, energy costs and significant capacity additions to the US energy grid.
Until the Section 201 solar tariffs were put in place in 2018, China was the main supplier in the US solar supply chain. Once the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was put in place in 2022, the tide began to turn with the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) estimating that the United States has seen solar manufacturing investments of $45.8 billion since passage of the IRA.
It takes time to set up manufacturing facilities and even longer to ramp up to full production. Many of the manufacturing investments that have been made over the last several years are just now coming online or coming online within the next year,
Scott Moskowitz, vice president of market strategy and industrial affairs at Qcells, said on a recent call. “Many of those are supplying projects that we’re assuming would get tax incentives that are now at risk,” he added.
SEIA reported that $9.1 billion of these manufacturing facilities are operational, $15.6 billion are under active construction, and another $21.1 billion manufacturing investments are under development.
Companies invested in these facilities “with the knowledge that the government has their back to level the playing field,” Mike Carr, executive director of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America (SEMA) Coalition, said in a statement. “The Senate selectively reversed course for just the technologies they apparently disfavor. As we have been telling Members of Congress for months, this bill will lead to a flood of Chinese imports, hurting U.S. manufacturing jobs and investments.”
Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of SEIA, said the bill will end homegrown solar energy and damage American manufacturing.
“Despite modest improvements on several provisions, this legislation does not go far enough to remove the threat to one of the greatest economic success stories in American history,” Hopper said. “This bill makes it harder to do business in America for US manufacturers and small businesses and will undoubtedly lead us to an energy-strained economy with higher electric bills over the next five years.”
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