Christopher Schuler, christopher.schuler@sierraclub.org
Washington, DC – Today, the Biden administration announced actions to boost domestic solar manufacturing and deployment of American-made solar panels, including closing the Trump-era Section 201 tariff exemption for imported bifacial, or double-sided, solar panels. These bifacial modules now account for more than 98 percent of US imports, resulting in less than 2 percent of imports being subjected to Section 201 duties.
The administration will also increase the tariff rate quota for solar cells, boosting domestic manufacturing of modules critical for solar developers. In another win for U.S. workers, manufacturers, and developers, the announcement simplifies the domestic content bonus credit in the Inflation Reduction Act, so even more solar modules and cells will be made here. The administration will also direct research and development funds upstream to help domesticate subcomponents like wafers.
As a whole, today’s announcement will benefit solar manufacturers and developers alike, ensuring a robust domestic supply chain that will further position the United States as a global leader in the clean energy transition.
In response to today’s announcement, the Sierra Club released the following statements:
“Today’s actions by President Biden will help further secure our already booming domestic solar manufacturing sector and level the playing field to ensure that we can meet the moment in our clean energy transition. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re rapidly building a robust domestic supply chain that can get us where we need to be to meet our deployment goals – all with the added benefit of creating good jobs and eliminating a reliance on China or any one single nation. With this decision, solar will remain the most cost-effective form of new energy, with the added bonus that US solar developers won’t have to rely on Chinese solar panels made in polluting facilities with forced labor. We can and should do all we can to make sure our clean energy future is built right here at home,” said Ben Jealous, Sierra Club Executive Director
“President Biden’s thoughtful decision is a win for climate, jobs, and justice. Chinese solar manufacturing is emissions-intensive and exploits workers. US manufacturing is cleaner and creates good jobs. Sierra Club will continue to partner with the White House to ensure that trade decisions, like tariffs, are made precisely because they reduce emissions and help communities by leveraging accurate pollution data. These moves will go beyond solar manufacturing, benefitting the entire domestic clean energy and critical material supply chain, since a solar panel is 85% aluminum and the Biden Administration is funding the first aluminum smelter built in the US in 45 years,” said Harry Manin, Sierra Club’s Deputy Legislative Director for Industrial Policy & Trade
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.