Regulation, Solar  -  June 7, 2022

White House Waives Solar Tariff for 24 Months

The White House waived the solar tariff on products sold in Asia for the next 24 months. President Joe Biden signed the bill, H.R. 4426.

The countries include four Southeast Asian nations - Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam, the White House said in a statement. The exemption for the tariffs for those four countries is the result of an investigation that stopped imports and froze projects in the U.S. 

“The federal government is working with the private sector to promote the expansion of domestic solar manufacturing capacity, including our capacity to manufacture modules and other inputs in the solar supply chain, but building that capacity will take time,” the White House said.  Immediate action is needed to ensure in the interim that the United States has access to a sufficient supply of solar modules to assist in meeting our electricity generation needs.

The vast majority of solar modules installed in the U.S. in 2020 were imported with three-quarters coming from southeast Asian countries. More recently, the number of imported solar modules has not been in sufficient quantities to ensure solar capacity additions to achieve the climate and clean energy goals, ensure electricity grid resource adequacy, and help combat rising energy prices in the U.S. 

“This acute shortage of solar modules and module components has abruptly put at risk near-term solar capacity additions that could otherwise have the potential to help ensure the sufficiency of electricity generation to meet customer demand,” the White House said. “Roughly half of the domestic deployment of solar modules that had been anticipated over the next year is currently in jeopardy as a result of insufficient supply.  Across the country, solar projects are being postponed or canceled.”

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