Inside Energy (https://insideenergy.org/author/will-stone-kjzz/)
Tough talk on tariffs on imported solar panels is creating confusion and turmoil in the U.S. solar industry. Big solar projects, such as utility scale solar, are especially concerned the Trump administration will seek trade protections from cheap solar imports, helping solar panel manufacturers but potentially hurting the rest of the industry.
Of the many promises Donald Trump made during the campaign, few resonated more than getting tough on trade and bringing manufacturing jobs back home. That promise gave one struggling solar company an idea: ask the President to tamp down on the glut of cheap solar panels coming from overseas. SolarWorld – one of the few U.S based manufacturers of solar panels – is using an obscure provision of trade law to try and impose a tariff on all panels made overseas. And the solar industry is freaking out. If approved, it could cost tens of thousands of jobs and bring installations to a halt.
Arizona is one of the country’s reddest states and it’s also one of the sunniest. Conservatives there say there’s a good case to be made, based on economics and ideology, for backing the expansion of solar energy.
It may not be at the top of the ticket, but key battles are being waged on many state ballots over the future of energy this year. As the influence of solar grows, that industry and the power companies are clashing. As one of the top markets in the country, Arizona is ground zero for this fight. Both sides are hoping to tip the scales in their favor by spending big money to get the right regulators elected.
An Arizona utility is the first in the country to propose a mandated demand charge on electricity bills for practically all residential customers.
The people who run our electricity grids are trying to figure out what to do with solar and wind power that is generated when no one needs it. Take California – there’s enough solar there now to serve more than three million homes. But during the day, especially in the spring, demand is low and generation is high. So, that clean power has to be sent elsewhere. Right now, its going across state lines to Arizona.
It may be lights out for the solar industry in Nevada. That state is hemorrhaging jobs after a controversial decision in December to raise rates for customers with rooftop solar panels. The move has jarred the solar industry nationwide, especially in other southwestern states like Arizona.
