A Major Win for the Solar Energy Industry

Invoking his Executive Order privilege, President Biden suspended tariffs that may result from a frivolous petition brought forth by Auxin Solar for a twenty-four (24) month period. What does this mean for commercial solar customers? It means very good things. It means that solar cells and modules imported into the United States from Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand from November 24, 2021 – June 5, 2024 (dating back the date when tariffs could have been retroactive to), will not face tariffs as a result of this petition.

This should ease concerns in the marketplace and provide the stability needed in the short-term to move forward with clean energy projects. “We applaud President Biden’s thoughtful approach to addressing the current crisis of the paralyzed solar supply chain,” Abigail Ross Hopper, CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said in a statement. Additionally, this should address the freeze in the supply chain created by the petition and help solar modules return to a more reasonable and stable price.

Further, Biden is taking steps to invoke the Defense Protection Act for solar panel parts, which will help to grow American solar manufacturing. This should help ease the current solar supply chain crisis. If production ramps up as intended, the administration is expecting domestic solar manufacturing to triple by 2024. This would further enhance Hanwha Q-Cells recent announcement to double its module manufacturing in Dalton, GA and create another 5,000+ new solar jobs.

“Finally, some tail winds, to boost us back into growth mode” said Mark Bell, President of Velo.

The solar industry cheers the move.