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President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has triggered an unprecedented boom in American clean energy manufacturing and deployment. Through the President’s Inflation Reduction Act, significant incentives for clean energy production, particularly for domestically manufactured solar products, have spurred historic growth in solar installations and new U.S. solar module and component manufacturing announcements.
The silicon solar cell first invented and demonstrated in the U.S. at Bell Labs in 1956, marked the beginning of decades of American leadership in solar innovation and manufacturing. However, China’s anticompetitive subsidization and trade practices severely undermined the U.S. solar manufacturing industry in the 2000s and 2010s. Recently, as U.S. solar manufacturing experienced a resurgence under President Biden’s leadership, China has ramped up overcapacity, dumping artificially cheap modules and components onto the global market to stifle other countries’ manufacturers.
Since President Biden took office, companies have announced more than $17 billion in investments and 335 gigawatts of manufacturing capacity throughout the solar supply chain, sufficient to power 18 million homes. The capacity for announced solar module manufacturing has increased from 7 gigawatts to over 125 gigawatts following the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. This boom in American manufacturing has doubled solar deployment since President Biden assumed office, with a record 32.4 gigawatts of solar capacity installed in 2023, a 50 per cent increase from 2022.
“American workers and manufacturers can compete with anyone—as long as the competition is fair,” said President Biden. Earlier this week, he directed U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai to increase tariffs on $18 billion of imports from China, including doubling the tariff rate on solar cells and modules from 25% to 50%, to protect American workers and businesses.
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new actions to further bolster American solar manufacturing and protect domestic businesses and workers from China’s unfair trade actions:
Removal of the Bifacial Module Exclusion Under Section 201: Bifacial solar panels, typically used in utility-scale projects, have been excluded from safeguard tariffs under Section 201. This exclusion has led to a surge in imports, undermining the effectiveness of the tariffs. The Biden-Harris Administration plans to remove this exclusion, offering U.S. solar manufacturers increased protection from unfair imports. Importers with pre-existing contracts for bifacial modules will have a 90-day period to continue using the exclusion.
Ending the Solar Bridge and Cracking Down on Stockpiling: The temporary, 24-month bridge initiated in June 2022 to facilitate duty-free imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam will end as scheduled on June 6, 2024. Panels imported duty-free must be installed within 180 days to prevent stockpiling, and Customs and Border Protection will enforce this provision rigorously.
Monitoring Import Surges and Oversupply: The U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Commerce will closely monitor import patterns to ensure the U.S. market does not become oversaturated, taking action against unfair practices as necessary.
Providing Additional Guidance on the Domestic Content Bonus: The Department of Treasury is issuing new guidance to enable more clean energy developers and manufacturers in the U.S. to take advantage of the domestic content bonus under the Inflation Reduction Act, facilitating partnerships between developers and manufacturers.
Supporting Technology Development for Onshoring Solar Manufacturing: The Department of Energy is announcing over $70 million in research and development selections to seed new technologies across the solar supply chain. This funding, from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, aims to establish new technologies and access more capital, addressing gaps in the domestic solar manufacturing supply chain.
Managing the Tariff-Rate Quota for Solar Cells: The Administration will monitor imported solar cells used in U.S. manufacturing and may increase the quota by 7.5 gigawatts to ensure domestic module manufacturing growth.These initiatives are part of a broader effort to support solar manufacturing and deployment in the U.S., including $7 billion in Solar for All grants, expanded eligibility for Energy Communities bonus credits, and support for solar component manufacturing through the 48C Advanced Energy Projects credits.
The Department of the Interior also finalized regulations to lower the cost of developing renewable energy projects on public lands, contributing to the Administration’s goal of permitting at least 25 gigawatts of clean energy by 2025. |
